HSC Houston Men’s Open 2024: Preview

The PSA World Tour heads to Houston next as the HSC Houston Open gets under way tomorrow with a stellar line up ready to excite the Houston Squash Club crowd.

World No.1 and previous champion Ali Farag is the No.1 seed and will be looking to claim a fifth title of the season and his second of the New Year. The Egyptian showed his class once again in New York, claiming the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions trophy, and he will be determined to claim another title on US soil this week in Texas.

The World Champion will face strong competition for the trophy, however, as last year’s winner and runner-up, Mostafa Asal and Mohamed Elshorbagy, are the No.2 and No.3 seeds, respectively. Asal controversially moved to World No.1 for the first time in this event last year as he overcame Marwan ElShorbagy in the semi-finals after the Englishman was forced to withdraw after the third game. Asal went on to win the event, beating Marwan’s brother Mohamed in the final.

It’s almost been a full year since 2017 World Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy won a PSA event, which isn’t something that the Englishman is used to. The drive and hunger is still there though, and he’ll be hoping to break his title slump to win a staggering 50th title on the PSA Tour.

Fresh off claiming a third World Tour title of the season, Karim Abdel Gawad completes the top four seeds as he looks to shine once again and continue his fine form. The Egyptian lifted the Pittsburgh Open title over the weekend, playing fantastic squash throughout and looking in tremendous form. He is certainly capable of stretching his unbeaten run and claiming another win in a place he feels very comfortable in.

More dangers wait in the 5/8 seeding positions as Egyptian duo Mazen Hesham and Tarek Momen will be looking to cause upsets. Both players are incredibly skilled and can beat anyone on their day. Their exciting styles will certainly entertain the Houston crowd. Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez and France’s Baptiste Masotti make up the remaining 5/8 seeding slots as they will also look to perform well and potentially cause upsets in the later stages.

There are eight exciting matches taking place on day one as 16 players look to move into round two to face the top seeds.

Play on day one starts at 13:00 (GMT-6) with all eight matches taking place on the show court. You can watch the action live on SQUASHTV.

Draw: HSC Houston Men’s Open
[1] Ali Farag (EGY)
Farkas Balazs (HUN) v [9/16] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)
[9/16] Ramit Tandon (IND) v Leung Chi Hin Henry (HKG)
[6] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[8] Baptiste Masotti (FRA)
Andrew Douglas (USA) v [9/16] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY)
[9/16] Timothy Brownell (USA) v [WC] Muhammad Huzaifa Ibrahim (PAK)
[4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
[3] Mostafa Asal (EGY)
Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) v [9/16] David Baillargeon (CAN)
[9/16] Karim El Hammamy (EGY) v Simon Herbert (ENG)
[5] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
[7] Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
Faraz Khan (USA) v [9/16] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA)
[9/16] Rory Stewart (SCO) v Cesar Salazar (MEX)
[2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG)