Abbas Shocks World No.5 Orfi
[14] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt [5] Amina Orfi (EGY) 3-2: 3-11, 11-13, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (69m)
World No.14 Nada Abbas produced a magnificent comeback from two games down at Lakeshore Sport & Fitness as she sent World No.5 Amina Orfi out of this year’s PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family.
Orfi had beaten Abbas in both of their previous encounters on the PSA Squash Tour, but an incredible fightback from Abbas saw her complete an 3-11, 11-13, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 victory to reach the last eight of the PSA World Championships for the first time since 2022. It looked for all the world like Orfi would continue her attempts to become the youngest women’s World Champion as she gained the early momentum and profited off a number of errors from her opponent in the opening game.
The second game was a closer affair, with Orfi fighting back from 7-3 down to double her advantage. Abbas was unable to close out that game on the tie-break, despite having game ball, but she made no mistake in the third game, pushing Orfi off the ’T’ and attacking into the front with variation. By this point, Abbas was fully loosened up and played with no fear, causing Orfi no end of problems as she went short often and used the cross court to great effect. After drawing level, the momentum was with Abbas and she pulled away to cause the day’s first upset.
“I’m over the moon,” said Abbas afterwards “She’s a great player and I’ve seen her grow up at the same club as me. She’s very dedicated, she’s a hard worker and she’s already reached World No.5. It’s big for me to come through and win this one. “After the first game she was totally controlling it. At 7-3 up in the second, I found a way to get into the match. I lost the game, but it made me believe I could push her more and maybe win the match.
“I’ve made some changes in the last couple of months with [Ahmed Effat]. I’m glad he’s with me today, we’ve tried to add more shots and I’m trying to stay in the rallies more.” Abbas will play either World No.3 Hania El Hammamy or Belgium’s Nele Gilis-Coll next as she aims to reach her maiden World Championships semi-final.
El Hammamy Sends Gilis Out
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [10] Nele Gilis-Coll (BEL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 (34m)
World No.3 Hania El Hammamy moved through to the last eight courtesy of a solid performance against Belgium’s Nele Gilis.
El Hammamy is yet to progress beyond the semi-final stages of this tournament, but is a step closer this time around following an 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 victory. It marks El Hammamy’s 10th successive victory over Gilis and the Egyptian will take on World No.14 Nada Abbas next.
“The performance] almost met my standards,” said El Hammamy. “I started to adapt to the court and started to hit the ball into the corners like I was looking to. It’s never easy against Nele, we’re really good friends and I have huge respect for her. I’m pretty sure she’ll be back soon.
“I had a feeling that Nada would come back and it would go to five. There are 10 minutes between matches and those 10 minutes are always intense for me. “I watched a bit before my match and huge credit to her, she played really well. I will definitely have a look at what she did to beat Amina.”
Soliman Through to First World Champs Quarter-Final
[9] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt [8] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) 3-1: 5-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-0 (55m)
World No.11 Youssef Soliman ended a six-match winless run against England’s Marwan ElShorbagy to reach the quarter-finals of the PSA World Championships for the first time.
Soliman hadn’t beaten ElShorbagy since 2020, but ground out a 5-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-0 victory to book his spot in the last eight. The Egyptian didn’t have everything his way in the early stages, however, with ElShorbagy dominating the first game. The line work from the 2017 World Championship runner-up was superb and he kept Soliman shut out to go ahead. Soliman stepped up the court and countered, particularly on the backhand side, as he began to put more points on the board.
After sneaking the second, he made the third game physical by extending the rallies and ElShorbagy looked weary as he trudged off court, going down 13-11. The Englishman was spent physically in the fourth and looked to be struggling with his movement as he failed to register a solitary point, with Soliman earning a quarter-finals clash with reigning champion Diego Elias.
“It was very tough mentally, he beat me six times,” said Soliman. “In the first game he was up for it, but I stayed calm. The third was very crucial, but I stayed composed and I’m hoping he is ok. I’m definitely very happy with my performance.
“He congratulated me and I asked if he was okay, but he said he was alright. He said a few nice words. I’m hoping to be less physical in the future because I’m relying on it so much. “Against Marwan I need to use my physicality, against some players I’m not able to. I’m glad I kept the rallies going, I did my best to make it physical and I think it paid off in the last game.”
Elias On Form to Beat Ibrahim
[3] Diego Elias (PER) bt [12] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-0, 11-7 (35m)
Defending men’s champion Diego Elias continued his attempts to become the first South American to win two PSA World Championship titles with a comfortable win over dangerous Egyptian Youssef Ibrahim.
Elias had beaten Ibrahim in five of their previous six matches and picked his opponent off in the opening game before storming straight through to an 11-0 victory in the second.
Ibrahim recovered initially in the third as he took an early lead, but he soon tailed off as a rampant Elias came back to inflict a 3-0 victory upon the man from Egypt.
Elias will now take on Youssef Soliman for a place in the last four.
“I think I played a very good match, I haven’t been playing very well recently, but I moved better today,” said Elias.
“I was a bit more confident in the last few matches and I’m happy to win in three against Youssef, he’s an amazing player.
“Youssef is playing very well, he beat Marwan today and that’s a very good win.”
Gohar Comes Through Tough Aboelkheir Test
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [13] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 3-1: 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5 (50m)
Reigning world champion Nouran Gohar came through a tough test of her title defence as she overcame her Egyptian compatriot Fayrouz Aboelkheir 3-1.
Gohar had never dropped a game to Aboelkheir on the PSA Squash Tour, winning all four previous matches in straight games. However Aboelkheir made life difficult for Gohar, equalising the match by taking the second before the defending champion pressed on to get the job done in four games.
Aboelkheir launched a series of good attacks down the backhand side, but Gohar’s powerful line hitting helped her get over the line despite being forced into a tiebreak.
Despite losing the first, Aboelkheir- who reached the quarter finals at last year’s World Championships – got her rewards in the second with a string of good winners on her backhand helping her level the match.
The first three games were evenly contested, and Aboelkheir continued to make life difficult for Gohar by taking her chances at the front.
World No.1 Gohar nudged ahead and requested the new ball at the end of the third, which looked to have benefitted her massively in the fourth by storming into an 8-1 lead before winning 11-5 to advance to the last eight.
“Fayrouz is an incredible player and it’s no secret that she’s very skilful and she played very well today,” she said.
“To be honest, some parts of my game weren’t on and compared to her she played amazingly well, it’s great to see and there wasn’t a lot of interference as well.
“It was purely squash and purely tactics so it was good in that sense and when things aren’t on you to try adjust and adapt and I think that’s why I did well today.
“I’ve got a lot of things I need to execute and do better and I feel the third game was very crucial to take and I was happy with the way I came out in the fourth. It was good to have a good match under the belt.”
Watanabe Creates History For Quarter-Final Spot
[11] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [6] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-1: 11-2, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 (46m)
Satomi Watanabe became the first Japanese player to reach the quarter finals of the PSA Worlds Championships following her 3-1 victory against Tinne Gilis.
Watanabe, who created history earlier this year by becoming the first Japanese player to reach the top 10 in the World Rankings, has achieved another impressive feat by becoming the first Japanese player to book a spot in the last eight of the biggest event of the season.
The World No.11 had never beaten Gilis on the PSA Squash Tour coming into today’s meeting, and Watanabe got off to a blistering start as she stormed the first 11-2.
Gilis was 6-3 ahead in the second, but Watanabe’s length hitting into the back corners helped her overturn that deficit to earn a commanding 2-0 lead.
Belgiun No.1 Gilis improved her accuracy in the third, lifting the ball well into the back of the court and she had to hold her nerve at the business end as Watanabe saved five of Gilis’ six game balls.
Gilis clinched the third, and Watanabe requested the new ball due to the court conditions. Both players traded points in a tense fourth game, as Watanabe pulled ahead to earn a place in the last eight.
“I’m out of words!” she said post-match.
“’m really happy that I’ve made my first quarter-final [at the World Championships] and I’m glad I was in such good form and she [Tinne] is my good friend, she’s always up there and is someone I look up to so I’m really pleased to win today.
“The first two games the ball was flying and I trying to get the most out of it and it worked well, but in the third it started to be slower and she had more control and she’s so good at controlling the ball especially on the softer courts so I was trying to take it one point at a time.
“I’ve not used that mindset before and I think it worked well today.”
Momen Downs Bryant In Three
[5] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Jonah Bryant (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (46m)
Former world champion Tarek Momen produced a dominant display against Jonah Bryant to progress to the last eight of the World Championships.
Momen, who won the title back in 2019, downed England’s rising star Bryant in straight games to seal his spot in the quarter finals in Chicago.
The pair’s only other previous meeting on Tour came at the start of 2025 when Bryant pushed Momen all the way in the third round of Squash in the Land, with the Egyptian winning 3-2 in 77 minutes.
However the 37-year-old did superbly well to diffuse Bryant, as his experience came to the fore at the backend of the first with the quality so high from both players.
Momen’s accuracy into the front corners was too strong for Bryant, with the Egyptian working the Englishman around the court as he doubled his lead.
Momen, who sensationally fought back yesterday against Gregoire Marche to reach round three, was immaculate again in the third while keeping the error count low to book his quarter-final spot.
“Against a quality player like Jonah [Bryant] with a performance like this, it’s amazing,” he said.
“This was my best case scenario, this is what I was thinking and I had to play at 110% today after yesterday’s match – I had a really tough one and I was exhausted.
“I thought today I cannot afford to have him drag me all over the court! Last time we played it went to five and it was brutal and today I was the fresh one against the not so fresh one I needed to have a good start.
“I was nervous at the beginning of the match because of the pressure that I needed to be very sharp, but once I got the feel of the ball and the court everything was going well and I started to enjoy myself and the game.
“Thanks to Omar who helped me and gave me a good game plan, I managed to stick to it from start to finish.”
