World No.1 Ali Farag Set To Return To Action To Defend Houston Open Title

World No.1 Ali Farag is set to feature in his first PSA World Tour event since October 2022 as he is seeded to defend his title at the Houston Open 2023. The PSA World Tour Gold event will take place from January 11 – 15 at the Houston Squash Club, featuring six of the world’s top 10 players.

Farag defeated compatriot Mazen Hesham in last year’s final but comes into the 2023 event with less-than-ideal preparation as he hasn’t featured on the PSA World Tour since the Grasshopper Cup in October. The defending champion receives a bye in round one but will then be up against either Cesar Salazar or Baptiste Masotti in round two.

In contrast to Farag’s poor preparation, No.2 seed Mostafa Asal will be full of confidence after claiming the most recent Platinum title at the Hong Kong Squash Open, beating Diego Elias 3-2 in the final. Asal will face either Egypt’s Moustafa El Sirty or England’s Nathan Lake in round two after receiving a round one bye.

ElShorbagy brothers, Mohamed and Marwan are the No.3 and No.4 seeds for the event and have both been in great form throughout the 2022/23 season, reaching eight finals between them with Mohamed picking up four titles and Marwan one. Marwan captured the final World Tour event of 2022 at the Hong Kong FC Open and will be looking to build on that victory in the opening event of 2023. After both receiving byes in round one, Mohamed will face the winner of the all-French battle between Sebastien Bonmalais and Gregoire Marche, whilst Marwan will play either Germany’s Raphael Kandra or wildcard Arhan Chandra.

Home interest comes from USA top two Shahjahan Khan and Todd Harrity as they look to give the home crowd plenty of reasons to cheer in the PSA Gold event. Khan reached the last 16 of this event last year and will face France’s Auguste Dussourd to reach the second round once again. Harrity will be up against Egypt’s Omar Mosaad for a place in the last 16. Mosaad has won the last two encounters between the two, both In straight games. 

You can watch all the action from the Houston Open 2023 live on SQUASHTV, with live scores available here.

Draw: Houston Open 2023 

[1] Ali Farag (EGY) Bye

Cesar Salazar (MEX) v [9/16] Baptiste Masotti (FRA)

[9/16] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) v Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)

[7] Youssef Soliman (EGY) Bye

[8] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) Bye

Leonel Cardenas (MEX) v [9/16] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI)

[9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) 

[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) Bye

[4] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) Bye

[WC] Arhan Chandra (USA) v [9/16] Raphael Kandra (GER)

[9/16] Shahjahan Khan (USA) v Auguste Dussourd (FRA)

[5] Mazen Hesham (EGY) Bye

[6] Victor Crouin (FRA) Bye

Todd Harrity (USA) v [9/16] Omar Mosaad (EGY)

[9/16] Moustafa El Sirty (EGY) v Nathan Lake (ENG)

[2] Mostafa Asal (EGY) Bye