Paris Squash 2024 – Day Two: Afternoon Roundup

The second round of Paris Squash 2024 is well and truly underway, with our first four quarter-finalists sealed at the Platinum-level event.

Play began with a tense all-Egyptian duel between No.8 seed Rowan Elaraby and Salma Hany, which Elaraby eventually took in five games. Elaraby arrived into the match having never defeated Hany from their three meetings on the PSA Tour, but the 24-year-old managed to flip the head-to-head record on its head in a scrappy match that saw regular interruptions in the middle of the court.

After Hany came from 2-1 down to force a decider, and subsequently move 6-3 up in the fifth, it looked like the World No.11 could be the one to take the honours, but Elaraby saved her best squash for the pressure moments, drawing parity and running away to victory by taking eight of the next ten points.

After the match, Elaraby said: “Salma’s shots are always so accurate, so I’m glad I’m through this match. It is always tough playing her. I have grown up with her and I know her pretty well, so it is challenging every time I step on court with her.

“I wanted to try and move her all over the court. I think I tried to play on my backhand more, because that’s my favourite side and I think I can produce a lot of shots from there, but I tried to also vary my shots from the other side as well – I think I did both well.”

The other match in the women’s draw saw No.4 seed Nele Gilis fight back from a game down to see off an in-form Lucy Turmel. The Englishwoman came flying out of the blocks with some accurate, attacking squash, taking a dominant opening game 11-4. However, from there, Gilis only grew in strength, finding her marks at the front of the court and taking the subsequent three games by 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 scorelines.

Gilis will now face Elaraby for a spot in the semi-finals of Paris Squash 2024.

In the men’s event, defending champion Ali Farag and No.8 seed Mohamed ElShorbagy were the two players to book their spots in the last eight.

Farag fought off a spirited Gregoire Marche in four games to set up a quarter-final date with England No.1 ElShorbagy. Despite Marche throwing everything in his armoury at the World No.1 in the first game, and getting a game ball at 10-9 up, costly errors crept into his game at just the wrong time, with Farag eventually taking the opener 14-12 after 19 minutes.

Despite Farag doubling his lead after a one-sided second, Marche remained strong and managed to pull away at the back end of the third to reduce the deficit to 2-1. This comeback was short-lived though, with Farag taking an unassailable 5-0 lead in the fourth and wrapping up the match after 46 minutes of play.

World No.8 ElShorbagy, meanwhile, defeated compatriot Adrian Waller by an 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 scoreline inside just under half an hour of play.

The evening session in Paris gets underway at 18:30 (GMT+2) and will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV.

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Results: Paris Squash 2024 Men’s RD1 (afternoon session)

[8] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (29m)

[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-1: 14-12, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6 (46m)

Results: Paris Squash 2024 Women’s RD2 (afternoon session)

[8] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) bt Salma Hany (EGY) 3-2: 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8 (64m)

[4] Nele Gilis (EGY) bt Lucy Turmel (ENG) 3-1: 4-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 (54m)