RC Pro Series QF: Zaman, Amani and Ali Gatecrash Last Four

Malaysia’s Ainaa Amani, Egypt’s Haya Ali and Pakistan’s Noor Zaman are all unseeded at the RC Pro Series, but they are all into the last four.

The Challenger 10 level competition is being held for the first time since 2020. Malaysia’s Amani came into the tournament in good form, having been one of the twelve players to secure their spot at the PSA World Championships thanks to their performances at the Qualifying Event in Birmingham.

She came into this event unseeded, and defeated the No.5 seed, Jessica Turnbull, in the opening round. On Thursday evening, Amani took on top seed Nour Aboulmakarim for a place in the quarter finals. 

Despite sitting 25 places below the Egyptian in the world rankings, Amani looked in control throughout.  She regrouped brilliantly after losing the second game to win the third 11-3, before then going on to secure the match with a fourth game tie-break victory.

The young Malaysian will now take on another Egyptian, in Haya Ali. Also unseeded, and coming in to this event off the back of winning her maiden Tour title, Ali took on Ukraine’s Alina Bushma in the last eight of the competition.

She required just 25 minutes to get the job done on Thursday, in one of the shortest matches of the day. Ali won in straight games against the Ukrainian to set up a clash with Amani, guaranteeing there will be an unseeded player in the women’s final.

The other women’s semi-final will see the Egyptian duo of Kenzy Ayman and Salma Eltayeb go head-to-head. They both came through their respective quarter finals unscathed, and will do battle for the second time this season after meeting at the Open de France de Squash in September.

There was also a surprise in the men’s event. Pakistan’s Noor Zaman overcame the challenge of Egypt’s No.7 seed, Seif Shenawy. Zaman had already downed No.4 seed Ivan Yuen on day one of the event, and he downed Shenawy in straight games to move through to the last four.

He will now take on top seed Cesar Salazar in the semi-finals. The Mexican came from behind to defeat Malaysia’s Addeen Idrakie. The Malaysian won the opening game on a tie-break, but Salazar fought back strongly to win in four.

The other semi-final will be a South American clash. Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio and Colombia’s Juan Camilo Vargas are set for battle in the last four. The pair both lost in their opening matches at the Atlanta Open last week, and were looking for better this time round.

Romiglio ended Yassin Elshafei’s unbeaten run to reach the semis. The Egyptian had won his last two events, taking glory at the UCNY PSA Classic, before then also winning the Rochester ProAm, but the Argentine won in four games. Meanwhile, Vargas downed Mohammad Syafiq Kamal in the only match to go to five on quarter finals day.

The RC Pro Series continues on Friday, April 28 with the semi-finals in St Louis. You can keep up to date with daily updates from the tournament on the PSA Challenger Tour’s Twitter and Facebook. Live scores from the event will be available on the PSA World Tour website here.

Men’s Quarter Final Results: RC Pro Series
[1] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt [5] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) 3-1: 12-14, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 (48m)
Noor Zaman (PAK) bt [7] Seif Shenawy (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 13-11 (29m)
[3] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) bt [6] Yassin Elshafei (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7 (45m)
[2] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) bt [8] Mohammad Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 3-2: 11-5, 11-7, 3-11, 7-11, 11-5 (47m)

Men’s Semi-Final Draw: To Be Played Friday, April 28
[1] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Noor Zaman (PAK)
[3] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) v [2] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL)

Women’s Quarter Final Results: RC Pro Series
Ainaa Amani (MAS) bt [1] Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 6-11, 11-3, 13-11 (36m)
Haya Ali (EGY) bt Alina Bushma (UKR) 3-0: 11-2, 11-9, 11-7 (25m)
[4] Salma Eltayeb (EGY) bt Saran Nghiem (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (24m)
[2] Kenzy Ayman (EGY) bt [7] Diana Garcia (MEX) 3-1: 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (33m)

Women’s Semi-Final Draw: To Be Played Friday, April 28
Ainaa Amani (MAS) v Haya Ali (EGY)
[4] Salma Eltayeb (EGY) v [2] Kenzy Ayman (EGY)