Black Ball Squash Open 2023: Preview & How To Watch Live

The Black Ball Squash Open gets underway from the Black Ball Sporting Club in Cairo tomorrow with 32 players looking to secure round one victories and join the top seeds in the second round of the PSA World Tour Gold event. Fireworks are expected from both men’s and women’s events with star-studded line-ups raring to go in the latest PSA World Tour event.

In the men’s event, in-form World No.2 Diego Elias has the chance to overtake current World No.1 Mostafa Asal at the summit of the world rankings if certain things happen during the event. Elias would need to claim the title as well as Asal not advancing to the final. If ‘The Raging Bull’ makes the final then he would guarantee himself top spot at least for another week.

A potentially very exciting quarter final match up is seeded to take place on day four of the event as No.2 seed Ali Farag is due to face No.5 seed Mohamed ElShorbagy in a rematch of the World Championships final that took place last year in Cairo and the Egyptian Open final from earlier this season. The pair haven’t met since September 2022 and haven’t faced each other outside of a final since 2017 (excluding World Tour Finals Pools match).

World No.1 Nouran Gohar leads the way in the women’s draw and will be looking to capture a title at the Black Ball Sporting Club for the second time after winning the Platinum event held there last season. Gohar will avoid compatriots Hania El Hammamy or Nour El Sherbini until the final as she is seeded to face either Georgina Kennedy or Joelle King in the semi-finals.

On paper, the No.2 and 3 seeds El Sherbini and El Hammamy have tricky quarter final opponents if the seedings go to plan, in the forms of Amanda Sobhy and Rowan Elaraby. If the Egyptian duo can come through those respective matches they will set up a 15th meeting on the PSA World Tour, with El Sherbini currently leading the head-to-head record 8-6.

Round one action takes place over two courts tomorrow, with glass court matches available to watch live on SQUASHTV and court 13 matches available to watch on the PSA World Tour website.

For updates on the Black Ball Squash Open, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

2023 Black Ball Squash Open: Men’s Draw

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) [bye]

Raphael Kandra (GER) v [9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY)

[9/16] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [WC] Omar Azzam (EGY)

[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) [bye]

[6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [bye]

Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v [9/16] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)

[9/16] Joel Makin (WAL) v Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY)

[4] Paul Coll (NZL) [bye]

[3] Diego Elias (PER) [bye]

Greg Lobban (SCO) v [9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA)

[9/16] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v Baptiste Masotti (FRA)

[8] Mazen Hesham (EGY) [bye]

[5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) [bye]

Auguste Dussourd (FRA) v [9/16] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)

[9/16] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) v Mohamed Aboulghar (EGY)

[2] Ali Farag (EGY) [bye]

2023 Black Ball Squash Open: Women’s Draw

[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) [bye]

[WC] Lauren Baltayan (FRA) v [9/16] Sabrina Sobhy (USA)

[9/16] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Nadine Shahin (EGY)

[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) [bye]

[8] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) [bye]

Hana Ramadan (EGY) v [9/16] Emily Whitlock (WAL)

[9/16] Nada Abbas (EGY) v Mariam Metwally (EGY)

[4] Joelle King (NZL) [bye]

[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) [bye]

Tomato Ho (HKG) v [9/16] Farida Mohamed (EGY)

[9/16] Tinne Gilis (BEL) v Sana Ibrahim (EGY)

[6] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) [bye]

[5] Amanda Sobhy (USA) [bye]

Yathreb Adel (EGY) v [9/16] Salma Hany (EGY)

[9/16] Tesni Evans (WAL) v Alexandra Fuller (RSA)

[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) [bye]