Challenger Tour Round-Up: Eissa Impresses, Upsets in Qatar, the Chuah Show Rolls On

Mozart Open 2024 

15-year-old Mariam Eissa continued her impressive week at the Mozart Open, beating sixth seed Colette Sultana to reach the quarter-finals in what is just her second ever PSA Tour event. 

Despite her age, Eissa was a runner-up in this year’s English Junior U19 Championship, going down to Amelie Haworth in the final, but has only played one Challenger Tour event to date, as a wildcard at last year’s Aston and Fincher Sutton Coldfield International. 

She now has back-to-back victories to her name in Austria, though, producing a dominant display to beat her Maltese opponent 11-3, 11-7, 11-1 in just 18 minutes, after a similarly comfortable round-one win over Mariana Ventura Martins. 

Her reward for those two performances will be an all-English meeting with fourth seed Kiera Marshall, who eased past the USA’s Hebaallah Nossier. 

Elsewhere, Michaela Cepová ended home interest by upsetting the only Austrian player left standing in Jacqueline Peychär, winning 3-0 in just under half an hour, setting up a matchup with fellow Czech player Karolína Šrámková. 

Eighth seed Juliette Permentier also went out, losing to Kara Lincou, but the top two seeds Saran Nghiem and Alison Thomson both sailed through. 

QSF 4 PSA 2024 

There were upsets in both semi-finals at the QSF 4 PSA, as Yousef Essam Farag and Mohammad Almasoud both reached their first ever PSA Tour final. 

There is perhaps no name more well-known in the squash world than ‘Farag’, but 19-year-old Yousef Essam will be hoping to establish his own reputation by clinching his maiden Tour title on home soil in Qatar, after upsetting No.1 seed Salem Al-Malki in the semi-finals. 

Farag is ranked almost 100 places below his semi-final opponent, but ran out a comfortable 3-0 winner in 40 minutes, and will now play fifth seed Almasoud for the trophy. 

The 36-year-old Kuwaity battled through a topsy-turvey five-game encounter with Iran’s [3] Sepehr Etemadpoor, winning game one 11-2 before dropping the next two, only to fight back by winning games four and five to clinch victory. 

Hong Kong Squash PSA Challenge Cup 2024 – 4th Leg  

Rising Malaysian star Joachim Chuah continued his impressive form, knocking out No.2 seed Wong Chi Him on day two of the Hong Kong Squash PSA Challenge Cup 2024 – 4th Leg, before beating Minwoo Lee 24 hours later. 

Chuah beat two seeded players on his way to the ACE Challenger 6K final as a wildcard a fortnight ago, and will now have his sights set on another final in Hong Kong, after coming out on top of a five-game thriller against Wong and then cruising past Lee in three. 

His semi-final opponent will be fifth seed Andes Ling, the highest-remaining seed in the men’s draw. 

Ling beat Malaysia’s Duncan Lee 3-0 on quarter-finals day, which also saw top seed Tang Ming Hong crash out, losing a five-game tussle with seventh seed Harley Lam. 

There was no such drama in the women’s draw, with all four results going the way of the seedings. 

Second seed Toby Tse had already lost out in round two, but her conqueror Cheung Tsz Ching Armona was unable to add another win to her resume, losing to eighth seed Kwong Ena. 

Kwong will now play teenager Sehveetrraa Kumar, with Ching Hei Fung and Thanusaa Uthrian set to contest the other semi-final. 

25th Atlanta Open 2024 

Wildcard Zahed Salem caused the biggest upset on day one of the 25th Atlanta Open, knocking out France’s Laszlo Godde 3-1. 

The 31-year-old Egyptian only joined the PSA Tour in February and is ranked at No.492 in the world, but after dropping game one against the World No.210, he took control of the match, cruising through the next three games. 

Godde was one of five [9/16] seeds to go out on day one, with Pakistani teenager Muhammad Huzaifa Ibrahim among the others to lose out. 

The 18-year-old – who trains at the Houston Squash Club with Jahanzeb Khan – was beaten 3-2 by experienced Nigerian Babatunde Ajagbe, who overturned a two-game deficit to win a dramatic five-game encounter. 

Ajagbe will now play another talented young Pakistani player in Muhammad Ashab Irfan, as the top eight seeds enter the draw in round two. 

You can stay up to date with all the results on the PSA Challenger Tour here.