German Open 2024 – Day One: Evening Roundup

The first day of the inaugural German Open continued with an exciting evening session as Germany’s Saskia Beinhard came from behind to defeat Egypt’s Rana Ismail at the Sportwerk centre in Hamburg, Germany.

Home favourite Saskia Beinhard came back from 2-0 down to claim victory over Ismail in a tense that saw a tie break in the opening game, and a bagel in the fourth.

The German struggled in the early phases of the match with Ismail consistently finding her lengths and putting the pressure onto the home favourite. The turning point in the match came in the third game as Beinhard, down two games, fought back against the 21-year-old to secure her first game of the match 11-9.

The fourth game was decisive with the German, supported by the full crowd, taking the game without any resistance 11-0. Ismail looked stunned by the sudden upturn in Beinhard’s form and despite a stronger performance in the fifth game, the World No.64 became the first German to win a match in the tournament.

“I’m feeling great,” said Beinhard after the match, “I can’t believe it at the moment, I actually don’t know how I won that, but I’m more than happy that I did and I’m hyped to get back on court tomorrow.

“[The crowd] definitely pushed me. When I was 2-0 down I was just wanting to go back on the court and show what I can no matter if I win or lose – just give it one last push, show them that I can play great squash. Then they pushed me to the win, and I think that’s great.”

Tom Walsh defeated former World No.1 James Willstrop in an all-England affair on the traditional courts.

Willstrop started on form as he used his wealth of experience to maintain a lead over Walsh. Despite the younger Englishman bringing the match to a tie-break, Willstrop claimed the first game to take the lead in the match.

From the second game, Walsh’s physical advantage over the 40-year-old began to become an increasingly pivotal factor, and the 24-year-old wore his opposition down in convincing 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 games to claim a place in the second round where he faces top seed Joel Makin.

Egypt’s Nardine Garas survived a resurgent Kaityn Watts to progress to the second round. Watts proved a difficult test for Garas with some strong spells and good movement to level the match after finding herself in a two-game deficit, but her inexperience proved her undoing as the Egyptian controlled the final game to earn a second round match-up against No.6 seed Tesni Murphy.

For more information on the German Open 2024 Presented by Sportwerk, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can also keep track of all of the live scores from the event by clicking here.

Results: German Open 2024 – Presented by Sportwerk Women’s RD1
Ineta Hopton (LAT) bt Anna Serme (CZE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 (19m)
Nardine Garas (EGY) bt Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) 3-2: 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5 (41m)
Torrie Malik (ENG) bt Yiwen Chan (MAS) 3-0: 12-10, 11-8, 11-2 (26m)
Asia Harris (ENG) bt [WC] Katerina Tycova (GER) 3-1: 12-10, 11-8, 4-11, 11-5 (42m)
Yasshmita Jadish Kumar (MAS) bt Cheng Nga Ching (HKG) 3-2: 13-11, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-5 (40m)
Saskia Beinhard (GER) bt Rana Ismail (EGY): 3-2: 12-14, 6-11, 11-9, 11-0, 11-9 (47m)

Results: German Open 2024 – Presented by Sportwerk Men’s RD1
Bernat Jaume (ESP) bt Ben Smith (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 14-12, 9-11, 11-3 (45m)
Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bt Yassin Elshafei (EGY) 3-2: 6-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 (62m)
Rui Soares (POR) bt [WC] Valentin Rapp (GER) 3-2: 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5 (55m)
Tom Walsh (ENG) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 3-1: 11-13, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 (42m)
Spencer Lovejoy (USA) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-1: 14-12, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9 (65m)
Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt Mazen Gamal (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-1, 11-8 (35m)