DAC Pro Squash Classic RD1: Wildcard Beecroft Delights Crowd With Upset

Round one of the DAC Pro Squash Classic got underway yesterday at the Detroit Athletic Club. There were three seeding upsets on day one as Egypt’s Hana Moataz and English duo Georgina Kennedy and wildcard Lucy Beecroftall progressed through to round two by beating higher seeded players.

World No.77 Beecroft defeated Latvia’s Ineta Mackevia in an entertaining 38 minute clash, 11-8 11-8 6-11 11-6. Beecroft, who graduated from Yale University last summer, is now full time on the PSA World Tour after completing her degree. This good form has carried on from her last event, where she picked up the Nash Cup Challenger 10 title in Ontario, Canada and the Englishwoman will now face No.6 seed Nele Gilis from Belgium in round two.

The match of the day, however, belonged to Belgium’s Tinne Gilis and Hong Kong’s Tsz-Wing Tong. This was Gilis’ first tournament back on the PSA World Tour since injuring her calf at the Allam British Open in August. Gilis found herself 2-1 down in the match but managed to regroup and take the fourth game 11-5 before winning the fifth game 11-9 to advance to round two where she will meet India’s Joshna Chinappa.

Another player carrying on good form from a previous tournament is France’s Melissa Alves. Her impressive run at the U.S. Open, where she reached the quarter final, has given her confidence for this event as she defeated Egypt’s Sana Ibrahim, 11-6 11-6 11-7 in 27 minutes. She will now face current World No. 2 and the event’s No.1 seed Nouran Gohar. The pair have only met once on the PSA World Tour, with Gohar coming out on top 3-1 in the Carol Weymuller Open in January last year.

The sole Hong Kong survivor of round one is Lui Tsz-Ling after she defeated compatriot Ka Yi Lee in a tight three games, 12-10 12-10 11-9 to advance to the next round. Tsz-Ling’s reward for her first round win is a match with New Zealand No. 1 and No. 2 seed Joelle King.

King will be looking to capture her first title since picking up the Manchester Open title in 2019. King has not been outside the top 10 in the world since 2017 so will be looking to close the gap between herself and the players above her in the current World Rankings.

You can follow live scores from the DAC Pro Squash Classic here.

Results – First Round: DAC Pro Squash Classic
Melissa Alves (FRA) bt Sana Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (27m)
[WC] Lucy Beecroft (ENG) bt Ineta Mackevica (LAT) 3-1: 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6 (38m)
Donna Lobban (AUS) bt Nadia Pfister (SUI) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-3 (22m)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Cristina Gomez (ESP)3-0: 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 (26m)
Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG) 3-2: 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 9-11 (55m)
Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG) BT Ka Yi Lee (HKG) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-9 (30m)
Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Emilia Soini (FIN) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-8 (20m)
Hana Moataz (EGY) bt Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 3-1: 11-4, 12-10, 12-14, 11-5 (39m)

Draw – Second Round: DAC Pro Squash Classic
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v Melissa Alves (FRA)
[WC] Lucy Beecroft (ENG) v [6] Nele Gilis (BEL)
[5] Tesni Evans (WAL) v Hana Moataz (EGY)
Donna Lobban (AUS) v [4] Olivia Clyne (USA)
[3] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v Tinne Gilis (BEL)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v [8] Alison Waters (ENG)
[7] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) v Georgina Kennedy (ENG)
Lui Tsz-Ling (HKG) v [2] Joelle King (NZL)