PHOTO ALBUM
Finals
[1] Nour El Tayeb 3-0 [5] Rachel Arnold (MAS) 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 (19m)
[2] Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 [1] Mostafa Asal 11-8, 12-10, 11-5 (51m)
Egyptian duo Karim Abdel Gawad and Nour El Tayeb are the 2023 Ace Malaysia Squash Cup champions after they claimed respective wins over men’s top seed Mostafa Asal and women’s No.5 seed Rachel Arnold.
Gawad has won the 27th PSA title of his career – and his second of the 2023-24 season – after playing some mesmerising squash to oust World No.5 Asal by an 11-8, 12-10, 11-5 scoreline.
Asal enjoyed early leads in each game, but Gawad was always able to move through the gears and unleash his trademark racket skills to secure the victory. It marks the first time since 2018 that Gawad has won back-to-back titles on the PSA World Tour following his triumph at last month’s Grasshopper Cup.
“I feel great, winning another title back-to-back and having such a good performance makes me very happy,” said Gawad. “The way I perform, the way I move on court, the way I play squash is just very enjoyable for myself right now and hopefully for everyone.
“Playing Mostafa is very hard, but I was looking forward to this match. We’ve played twice before, once when he was still coming up as a young player, and the second time was during my injury phase. I wasn’t playing my best squash then, so I was looking forward to this match.”
El Tayeb, the No.1 seed in the women’s tournament, has captured the 15th PSA title of her career after she stormed to an 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 victory over Arnold in just 19 minutes.
World No.39 Arnold had the home crowd behind her but was sporting heavy strapping on her right leg after fighting through two five-game matches to reach the final. She never really got going and El Tayeb took full advantage to seal the PSA World Tour Bronze title.
Like Gawad, it’s El Tayeb’s second title of the season after her South Western Open win last month.
“I think I’ve been playing well all week, so it’s nice to play well today,” said El Tayeb afterwards. “I could tell Rachel [Arnold] wan’t moving well, maybe she’s struggling from the long week. I’m sorry for her but I’m happy that I won.
“It gives me a lot of confidence in my ability, every opponent was different this week and every match was different. I’m glad I was able to back up match after match.”
Semis
[1] Mostafa Asal 3-0 [8] Ramit Tandon (IND) 11-6, 11-1, 11-5 (42m)
[2] Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 [4] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 11-8, 12-10, 11-5 (39m)[5] Rachel Arnold (MAS) bt Malak Khafagy 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4 (52m)
[1] Nour El Tayeb 3-1 [7] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 10-12, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6 (45m)
Nour El Tayeb will appear in her 29th PSA final after she overcame the other Malaysian woman in action – Sivasangari Subramaniam – by a 10-12, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6 scoreline.
Subramaniam started on the front foot, but El Tayeb unleashed her trademark racket skills from the second game onwards to earn her second final spot of the season following her South Western title win last month.
“It was a tough game to back up after yesterday’s match,” El Tayeb said. “I am over 30 now and I can feel the recovery is slowing down big time, so it was hard at the beginning of the match. Siva was very smart today and it took me a while to get used to her game, but I’m glad I managed to get into the match quickly and play well towards the end.”
Two former World No.1s will go head-to-head in the men’s final, with Karim Abdel Gawad and Mostafa Asal claiming respective wins against Eain Yow Ng and Ramit Tandon.
Eain Yow was the only Malaysian man remaining in the draw, but fell victim to a classy performance from Gawad, who has made it back-to-back finals after his win at the Grasshopper Cup in October.
“We haven’t played for so long,” said Gawad. “We’ve played twice, once when he was so young and once when I was injured, so I wasn’t playing my best squash. He’s been playing well and he’s near the top of the rankings, I’m looking forward to it and hopefully it will be a good final tomorrow.”
Top seed Mostafa Asal will line up in his 16th PSA final after he ended the superb run of Ramit Tandon, who was appearing in his biggest PSA event in over four years following his upset win over No.3 seed Victor Crouin in the previous round.
However, Asal put in a masterclass of a performance to win in straight games and he will take on Gawad for the first time since 2021. It’s currently one win apiece between the two World No.1s and Asal will be making his first final appearance of the season.
“I’m just trying to enjoy it out there,” said Asal. “I didn’t enjoy it the last couple of years, there were lots of fights as well, but I’ve started enjoying my squash again, and changing my attitude is the main thing.
I’m still 22 years old and I need to fix lots of things, but I’m loving myself like this and the changing of my attitude.”
Quarters
Malak Khafagy 3-2 Kenzy Ayman 10-12, 12-10, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7 (58m)
[5] Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-1 [2] Farida Mohamed 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5 (46m)[1] Mostafa Asal 3-0 [5] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 (43m)
[2] Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 [7] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) 13-11, 11-9, 12-10 (51m)
Round Two
[2] Farida Mohamed 3-0 Low Wee Wern (MAS) 11-3, 11-0, 11-4 (18m)
Kenzy Ayman 3-2 [8] Sana Ibrahim 11-13, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 (73m)
Malak Khafagy 3-1 [4] Nadine Shahin 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (34m)
[6] Amina Orfi 3-0 Marta Dominguez Fernandez (ESP) 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (36m)
[1] Nour El Tayeb 3-0 Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG) 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (26m)
[1] Mostafa Asal 3-0 Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (32m)
[2] Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (30m)
Men & Women $51k PSA Bronze, 06-10 Nov, Seremban
Round One
Kenzy Ayman 3-1 Jessica Turnbull (AUS) 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 (31m)
Malak Khafagy 3-1 Nardine Garas 11-5, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9 (33m)
Low Wee Wern (MAS) 3-1 Menna Hamed 11-9, 11-2, 7-11, 13-11 (46m)
Bernat Jaume (ESP) 3-0 Seif Shenawy 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (35m)
Ivan Yuen (MAS) 3-2 Aly Hussein 11-6, 11-13, 3-11, 11-7, 11-5 (67m)
Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) 3-2 Yassin Elshafei 10-12, 3-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-8 (47m)
Ibrahim Elkabbani 3-0 [WC] Ameeshenraj Chandaran (MAS) 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 (42m)
