Liverpool Cricket Club Open QFs: Chandaran Stuns Elsirty in ‘Best Win Yet’

Ameeshenraj Chandaran recorded what he described as the biggest win of his career so far, on a breathtaking quarter-finals day at the Liverpool Cricket Club Open. 

The Malaysian had already upset fourth seed Mazen Gamal 3-0 in round two, but went one better in the last eight, stunning the former World No.22 in a dramatic, five-game encounter. 

As impressive as Chandaran was in the win over Gamal, plenty watching on inside the Liverpool Cricket Club were expecting a relatively one-sided affair, with Chandaran’s highest world ranking of No.131 being more than 100 places lower than Elsirty’s. 

A nine-minute first game did little to dispel those predictions, as the Egyptian took it 11-5, but Chandaran was up for the fight, and used his tremendous speed around the court to open up a 6-3 lead in the second. 

Elsirty clawed level at 6-6 but Chandaran reeled off five points on the bounce from there to get himself on the board. 

He was behind again after game three, which Elsirty won 11-6, but as game four wore on, the Malaysian appeared to get fitter and faster. 

He dominated the game – winning it 11-2 with Elsirty perhaps conserving energy for the decider – but was then 6-4 down in the fifth, with the Egyptian appearing to have found a second wind. 

The relentless hard-hitting of Elsirty contrasted well with the scrambling nature of Chandaran, but as the finish line drew closer, tensions rose and the referee became heavily involved. 

At 10-8 up, Chandaran had victory within his grasp, but Elsirty saved both match balls, letting out a huge roar after saving the second when Chandaran lost his footing at the back of the court. 

The 20-year-old would get his moment of glory, though, as Elsirty found the tin on a forehand on his third match ball. 

“I’m over the moon,” Chandaran said after his win. 

“I haven’t been getting the results I wanted for the past few months, so I’m glad to finally get some pretty good wins. I played Mazen yesterday, Elsirty as well is a huge win for me so it’s good to finally have something under my belt. 

“Elsirty is a great player so I knew I was getting into a tough battle, even from the start, but I just told myself that I believed that I could do it, and I just stayed in there in those important rallies, waiting, waiting, and it worked out, so I’m not complaining.” 

Asked where this win ranks in his career, he added: “My best win yet. But I’m not done, I’ve got semi-finals and hopefully I make it to the final as well, so I just need to rest well and go again tomorrow.”

Chandaran’s win followed an equally dramatic five-game encounter between defending champion Ben Smith and Wales’ Emyr Evans. 

The British pair were going head-to-head for the fifth time on the PSA Tour, having split the first four matchups with two wins each, Evans winning the most recent in five at this season’s London Open. 

As such, it was no surprise that there was so little to split them, going toe-to-toe over 90 minutes. 

At 10-9 up in the fourth, Evans had a match ball having taken games two and three, but a yes let preceeded a stroke and Smith survived. 

The Englishman – who had also saved a match ball in his round-two win over Lwamba Chileshe – eventually edged a nerve-jangling tiebreak, which itself lasted more than seven minutes, and that appeared to shift the momentum in his favour.

He opened up a 10-4 lead in game five, clinching a semi-final berth only after surviving some more nervy moments, as Evans saved the first three match balls. 

Earlier in the day, Viktor Byrtus has come through a five-game battle of his own, surviving an impressive fightback to beat Muhammad Asim Khan, winning the decider 11-5 after seeing a two-game lead wiped out. 

Byrtus will now play Egypt’s Kareem El Torkey, who continued his fine week with a more straightforward win over Scotland’s Alasdair Prott, needing only half an hour to wrap up a 3-0 victory. 

The semi-finals of the Liverpool Cricket Club Open kick off at 7pm GMT on Friday, March 29, streaming live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel. 

Results: 
Ameeshenraj Chandaran (MAS) bt Moustafa Elsirty (EGY) 3-2: 5-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-2, 12-10 (71m) 
[2] Ben Smith (ENG) bt [8] Emyr Evans (WAL) 3-2: 12-10, 8-11, 5-11, 14-12, 11-7 (90m) 
[7] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) bt [3] Muhammad Asim Khan (PAK) 3-2: 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5 (69m) 
Kareem El Torkey (EGY) bt Alasdair Prott (SCO) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 (30m)