J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions – Day One: Evening Roundup

The J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions continued into the evening in New York City today with action taking place across five courts in four different venues.

Event wildcards Caroline Fouts and Andrew Douglas scored impressive surprise victories at the New York Athletic Club as they overcame French duo Melissa Alves and Sebastien Bonmalais to reach round two for the first time at the J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions.

18-year-old Fouts had to battle extremely hard against the experienced World No.20 Melissa Alves to book her place in round two. The American found herself 2-1 down in the contest but stuck to her aggressive, attacking style to constantly ask questions of Alves and force the Frenchwoman into many difficult situations. After levelling at 2-2, Fouts ran out to a 7-1 lead and didn’t take long to win the deciding game 11-3 and reach the second round of a Platinum event for the first time.

“Its such a great experiences, last year I had a similar opportunity but I was really grateful to get through in a sliced five game match. I think this year Ive had more opportunities in bigger events and I’ve learned a lot from the Challenger Tour events that I’ve played and I think I’ve really grown as a player.

“I had the chance to play in a home World Championships in Chicago last year and I’m just so hungry to be in these bigger events and I’m working hard to be in them on merit and more consistently.”

Fout’s compatriot Andrew Douglas was third onto court 7 at the New York Athletic Club against France’s Sebastien Bonmalais, who was recovering from injury and illness as he stepped onto court.

Douglas powered into an early lead in game one and was happy to extend the rallies and test the physical capabilities of the Frenchman. The rallies were long and entertaining with Douglas able to find a furry of winners to take a close second game 12-10 and delight the home crowd. The home player pushed on in game three to win 11-5 and book his spot in the second round of a Platinum event for the first time since 2019.

Over at the Nicol Club, Ramit Tandon secured the win in an all-India clash with Saurav Ghosal. After taking a convincing opener 11-3, Tandon was pegged back by the Indian No.1 but found top form in the third and fourth games to win them both 11-7 and book a place in the second round, where he will now face France’s Baptiste Masotti. There were also evening wins for European trio Iker Pajares Bernabeu, Gregoire Marche and Auguste Dussourd as well as a win for Egypt’s Nadine Shahin.

Three upsets took place over at the Harvard Club of New York as Yahya Elnawasany downed Switzerland’s Nicholas Mueller. USA’s Faraz Khan defeated Abdulla Altamimi and Hong Kong’s Tsz Kwan Lau overcame Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas. Elnawasany produced some impeccable squash to nullify the attacks of Mueller and impose his own style on the match. He had this to say after his scalp:

“I’m really happy I got the win today. It was tough and it kept going back and forth throughout the whole match so I’m very happy to get the win in the end. This is my first win at a Platinum event in the United States so I’m really happy with that.

“It’s a big win for me because I was down in the past few months – I had to some challenges to face and I’m on my back and playing my best squash again.

“I had so many doubts after the first game because he [Nicolas Mueller] was completely dominating but then I had to focus on my squash and what I do best. I had to up the tempo and be more focused because a lot of my shots weren’t great quality so I had to up the quality and the intensity.”

There were no seeding upsets at the River Club of New York as all the higher seeded players safely progressed through to round two. Scotland’s Greg Lobban avenged his loss to Leandro Romiglio from Hong Kong as he beat the Argentine in straight games. Whereas fellow Brit Nathan Lake needed four games to defeat Karim El Hammamy to join Mohamed Abouelghar and Raphael Kandra in the next round.

Round two action commences at 12:00 tomorrow with the glass court in Grand Central Terminal featuring some of the event’s top seeds. Play will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV.

Stay up to date on the 2024 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions on the PSA website or by following the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. 

You can keep up to date with all the scores from round one of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions here.

Results: J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions – Round One (afternoon session)

New York Athletic Club
[WC] Caroline Fouts (USA) bt Melissa Alves (FRA) 3-2: 10-12, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3 (57m)
Lucy Turmel (ENG) bt Charlotte Pastel (USA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-0 (22m)
Mariam Metwally (EGY) bt Marie Stephan (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-1 (22m)
Zeina Mickawy (EGY) bt Kenzy Ayman (EGY) 3-2: 12-10, 8-11, 11-1, 11-13, 11-6 (42m)

Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Rory Stewart (SCO) 3-1: 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-9 (59m)
Patrick Rooney (ENG) bt Shahjahan Khan (USA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-9, 11-2 (35m)
[WC] Andrew Douglas (USA) bt Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 12-10, 11-5 (32m)
Nick Wall (ENG) bt Curtis Malik (ENG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-2, 11-2 (18m)

Nicol Squash Club
Iker Pajares (ESP) bt Farkas Balazs (HUN) 3-0: 11-8, 11-1, 12-10 (47m)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt Leung Chi Hin Henry (HKG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 (39m)
Nadine Shahin (EGY) bt Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5 (31m)
Ramit Tandon (IND) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 3-1: 11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 (49m)
Auguste Dussourd (FRA) bt Nicholas Spizzirri (USA) 3-1: 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4 (43m)

Harvard Club of New York
Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 (47m)
Faraz Khan (USA) bt Abdulla AL-Tamimi (QAT) 3-1: 11-9, 10-12, 11-3, 11-6 (35m)
Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) bt Leonel Cardenas (MEX) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10 (46m)
Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) bt Timothy Brownell (USA) 3-1: 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 (43m)

River Club of New York
Greg Lobban (SCO) bt Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 (39m)
Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt David Baillargeon (CAN) 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 (29m)
Nathan Lake (ENG) bt Karim El Hammamy (EGY) 3-1: 9-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (42m)
Raphael Kandra (GER) bt Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-0: 11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8 (45m)