The SA Open: Fuller & van Niekerk Progress, Smith Avoids Upset

Alexandra Fuller and Dewald van Niekerk both progressed through to the SA Open quarter-finals, keeping South African hopes alive in the process. 

Playing in the penultimate match of day two on the glass court, Fuller took just 19 minutes to see off compatriot Hayley Ward, winning 11-3, 11-7, 11-3. 

That win was the second South African victory in quick succession, with van Niekerk having beaten France’s Paul Gonzalez in the previous match. 

The men’s No.4 seed took more than twice as long as Fuller to wrap up his win, needing 42 minutes, but still looked comfortable throughout, not dropping more than seven points in any of the three games. 

Fuller and van Niekerk are the only remaining hopes of a homegrown winner, with the eight other South Africans in round two all crashing out, although World No.374 Tristen Worth took second seed Ben Smith the distance. 

Jean-Pierre Brits was the only seed among those eight, but he went down 3-1 to 20-year-old Egyptian Hazem Hossam, who will now play rising star and No.3 seed Rowan Damming in the last eight. 

Brits was one of two seeds overall to lose in the men’s draw, with Kareem El Torkey the other. 

El Torkey was beaten in a five-game thriller by fellow Egyptian and Wadi Degla teammate Seif Tamer, losing the deicing game 12-10 on a stroke. 

In the women’s draw, all eight matchups went the way of the seedings, meaning Fuller’s quarter-final opponent will be Egyptian No.8 seed Nour Heikal. 

Should Fuller win that, she could face top seed Jasmine Hutton, should she progress past Switzerland’s Cindy Merlo. Hutton has won all five games she’s played against Merlo, recently beating her 11-2, 11-7 in the best-of-three format at the Grasshopper Cup. 

You can watch all eight quarter-final matchups from the SA Open live on the PSA Live Streaming YouTube channel from 2pm local time/12pm GMT tomorrow. 

Results: Men’s Round Two 

[3] Rowan Damming (NED) bt Yehia Essam (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 11-1 (44m) 
[5] Khaled Labib (EGY) bt Damian Groenewald (RSA) 3-1: 11-2, 6-11, 11-7, 13-11 (41m) 
[1] Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY) bt Sohail El Shenawy (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 (45m) 
Ziad Ibrahim (EGY) bt [7] Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 12-10 (51m) 
[4] Dewald van Niekerk (RSA) bt Paul Gonzalez (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (42m) 
Hazem Hossam (EGY) bt [8] Jean-Pierre Brits (RSA) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 11-9 (43m) 
Seif Tamer (EGY) bt [6] Kareem El Torkey (EGY) 3-2: 11-9, 7-11, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10 (71m) 
[2] Ben Smith (ENG) bt Tristen Worth (RSA) 3-2: 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-3, 11-6 (53m) 

Results: Women’s Round Two 

[4] Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) bt Alexa Pienaar (RSA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-4, 11-5 (24m) 
[2] Lucy Turmel (ENG) bt Awande Malinga (RSA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-2, 11-3 (23m) 
[1] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) bt Lojayn Gohary (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-3 (25m) 
[6] Cindy Merlo (SUI) bt Elise Romba (FRA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 (26m) 
[7] Menna Hamed (EGY) bt Nour Megahed (EGY) 3-1: 5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 (40m) 
[3] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) bt Hayley Ward (RSA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 (19m) 
[8] Nour Heikal (EGY) bt Helena Coetzee (RSA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 15-13 (21m) 
[5] Marie Stephan (FRA) bt Savannah Ingledew (RSA) 3-2: 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 (64m) 

Draw: Men’s Quarter-Finals 

[1] Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY) v Ziad Ibrahim (EGY) 
[5] Khaled Labib (EGY) v [4] Dewald van Niekerk (RSA) 
[3] Rowan Damming (NED) v Hazem Hossam (EGY) 
Seif Tamer (EGY) v [2] Ben Smith (ENG) 

Draw: Women’s Quarter-Finals 

[1] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v [6] Cindy Merlo (SUI) 
[7] Menna Hamed (EGY) v [4] Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 
[3] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) v [8] Nour Heikal (EGY) 
[5] Marie Stephan (FRA) v [2] Lucy Turmel (ENG)