Farkas Shocks Al Tamimi on Day Two of Canadian Men’s Open 2024

Squash fans in Calgary were treated to a major shock in round two of the Canadian Men’s Open 2024 presented by AirSprint Private Aviation as unseeded Hungarian Farkas Balazs took down Qatari No.4 seed Abdulla Al Tamimi to reach a first ever Silver-level quarter-final on the PSA World Tour.

The World No.53 was impressive all over court, attacking well at the front and back and drawing errors from the World No.21.

After taking a stop-start opening game 11-5, Farkas doubled his advantage against the struggling Al Tamimi with a well-earned 11-8 win in game two, before putting the Qatari to the sword by the same scoreline in game three.

Afterwards, he said: “It means a lot to win today. I’ve been working at home to play better and better and today he made a few more errors than usual.”

Farkas will face Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann in the quarter-final after the No.7 seed breezed past Portugal’s Rui Soares.

Farkas was not the only player to secure a rankings upset, with Swiss World No.64 Yannick Wilhelmi overcoming No.6 seed and World No.28 Auguste Dussourd, with Wilhemi capitalising on a calf injury suffered by Dussourd in game one.

Elsewhere, last home hope standing David Baillargeon will face tournament top seed Diego Elias in the next round after the Canadian No.8 seed fought back from a game down to beat Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue. Elias, meanwhile, beat USA’s Todd Harrity in straight games.

The quarter-finals take place in Calgary tomorrow, 05 March, at 16:30 (GMT-7), with play streamed live on SQUASHTV.

For updates from the Canadian Men’s Open 2024, follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Results – Second Round: Canadian Men’s Open 2024 Presented by AirSprint Private Aviation

[1] Diego Elias (PER) bt Todd Harrity (USA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 (37m)

[8] David Baillargeon (CAN) bt Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) 3-1: 10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6 (50m)

[7] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) bt Rui Soares (POR) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-2 (36m)

Farkas Balazs (HUN) bt [4] Abdulla Al-Tamimi (QAT) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (40m)

[3] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-3 (28m)

[5] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt Abhay Singh (IND) 3-1: 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4 (38m)

Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [6] Auguste Dussourd (FRA) 3-1: 11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 11-3 (46m)

[2] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Tom Walsh (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (41m)

Draw – Quarter-Finals

[1] Diego Elias (PER) v [8] David Baillargeon (CAN)
[7] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v Farkas Balazs (HUN)
[3] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v [5] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) v [2] Mazen Hesham (EGY).