TTI Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open 2023 RD2: Gilis survives scare to defeat Ibrahim

World No.4 Nele Gilis survived a scare in her opening match of the TTI Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open 2023, fighting back from 2-1 down to defeat Egypt’s Sana Ibrahim and progress to round three of the Platinum-level event.

Gilis, who became the first ever Belgian player to reach the world’s top five this month, faced a fired-up Ibrahim on the main glass court, with the Egyptian not afraid to fire shots in short and take on anything that was left in the middle of the court.

However, it was Gilis’ superior physicality and strength that came to the fore in the fifth game, eventually prevailing 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-2 in 60 minutes of action.

After the match, Gilis said: “I could tell from the start that she was very fired up and that she is very dangerous if you aren’t hitting your marks, which I wasn’t. I can’t say that I’m pleased with my performance, but I’m glad that I fought through that match. I’ve got to fine-tune a few things for my next match.

“I tried to make it a bit more physical as the match went on and try to find my back corners a bit better because everything was landing in the middle, and she is so dangerous in the middle.

“I was still feeling good in the fifth and I could tell at the end of the fourth that she was starting to feel it, so I had confidence that I could win on physicality.”

Elsewhere, Canada’s Hollie Naughton caused a major seeding upset as she knocked out No.5 seed Olivia Weaver in five games.

Despite Weaver fighting back from two games down to force a decider, World No.25 Naughton held firm to take the match and set up a third-round tie against Hong Kong Football Club champion Sivasangari Subramaniam, who came through her bout with Hana Ramadan in straight games.

Defending champion Hania El Hammamy came from a game behind to see off the threat of Sabrina Sobhy, avenging her defeat to the American at the Paris Squash Platinum event at the start of the season.

El Hammamy, who defeated Nour El Sherbini in the final to claim the title in Hong Kong last season, moved from strength to strength as the match progressed, finding an improved length after a ball change in the third, and never looking back from there.

After her victory, the Egyptian said: “That was definitely tough, the last two meetings went in her favour, so I just tried to prepare myself and watch back the matches I lost against her and pick up the mistakes that I made.

“I felt at the beginning of the match I was overhitting my length, and that was because of the fast ball. When we changed the ball, I think that my length became even better because I wasn’t overhitting it and it was a slower ball.

“I think the change of ball came to my favour, for sure.”

There were also wins for Egypt’s Zeina Mickawy, who came through a five-game thriller with Nour Aboulmakarim, England’s Sarah-Jane Perry, Malaysia’s Aifa Azman and World No.14 Rowan Elaraby.

In the men’s draw, Mohamed ElShorbagy flew out of the blocks to defeat France’s Baptiste Masotti 11-3, 11-3, 11-7 in just 23 minutes of action. The England No.1 was at his free-flowing best throughout the course of the match, taking an early 7-0 lead in the first and never looking back.

“I’m really happy to win,” ElShorbagy said after the match. “I’m normally not very good in the first few rounds, I’m normally a slow starter, but when I knew that I had Baptiste here to start, I thought he’s a top 16 player and I had to have a different kind of preparation to what I usually do.

“I have a lot of experience here on this court, and I think I used this experience better than him.

“Two places that I have always enjoyed playing at are Qatar and Hong Kong. I have always had some really good results here, winning four from four in finals. It’s always an honour to win this event, so why not go for a fifth one.”

Elsewhere, France No.1 Victor Crouin produced a superb performance to end the run of local favourite Tsz Kwan Lau in straight games. The Hong Kong player, who defeated Abdulla Al Tamimi in a five-game epic on day one, couldn’t replicate these heroics for a second successive day, falling to a 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 defeat.

World No.2 Diego Elias, U.S. Open champion Paul Coll and Malaysia Cup winner Karim Abdel Gawad also safely booked their spots in the third round with straight-game victories over Nathan Lake, Nick Wall and Gregoire Marche, respectively.

In the final string of matches on day two, No.7 seed Marwan ElShorbagy triumphed over Egypt’s Mohamed ElSherbini in a hard-fought four-game victory, while Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio saved multiple match balls in the deciding game to defeat Adrian Waller in a 72-minute classic.

Auguste Dussourd was the final winner of the evening session following an 11-7, 1-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 victory over recent Hong Kong Football Club champion Aly Abou Eleinen.

Day three of action on the Centre Court in the Hong Kong Squash Centre can be watched live on SQUASHTV and gets underway at 12:00 (GMT+8).

For more information on the TTI Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open, visit the tournament website, the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. 

Results – Men’s Second Round (Evening Session): TTI Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open 2023

Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 (34m)

Victor Crouin (FRA) bt Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (35m)

[5] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Nick Wall (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-2, 11-6 (39m)

[2] Diego Elias (PER0 bt Nathan Lake (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (40m)

[4] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-3, 11-7 (23m)

[7] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) 3-1: 12-10, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 (58m)

Leandro Romiglio (ARG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-2: 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4, 13-11 (74m)

Auguste Dussourd (FRA) bt Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-2: 11-7, 1-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 (71m)

Results – Women’s Second Round (Evening Session): TTI Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open 2023

Aifa Azman (MAS) bt Nadine Shahin (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 (20m)

[8] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) bt Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-1: 1-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (43m)

[2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt Sabrina Sobhy (USA) 3-1: 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (49m)

Zeina Mickawy (EGY) bt Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 3-2: 11-4, 13-11, 9-11, 8-11, 14-12 (60m)

Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Hana Ramadan (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 (25m)

Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt Salma Eltayeb (EGY) 3-1: 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8 (35m)

Hollie Naughton (CAN) bt [5] Olivia Weaver (USA) 3-2: 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 3-11, 11-8 (44m)

[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Sana Ibrahim (EGY) 3-2: 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-2