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The first ever PSA Tour Copper event ended in fittingly dramatic style, as teenage sensation Mohamad Zakaria fought back from 2-0 down to win the NASH Cup 2024 title.
16-year-old Zakaria has already put the squash world on notice across the last 12 months, becoming the youngest ever male winner of a PSA Tour event and the youngest male junior world champion, and he now has a PSA Tour world event title to his name too.
But playing on the eve of his 17th birthday, Zakaria had to do things the hard way against England’s Curtis Malik, who had knocked out Moustafa Elsirty in dramatic fashion in round two, before putting in dominant displays in the next two rounds.
The last time Malik and Zakaria had met was in a five-game marathon almost 12 months ago, with Malik winning 11-9 in the fifth, so it was little surprise – especially given that both players have improved since then – that they were so evenly matched early on here.
Never once during an 18-minute first game were there more than two points between them, but it was the No.2 seed who took it 11-9, before giving himself a 2-0 lead by winning the second 11-7.
By his own admission, Zakaria had been somewhat passive throughout the first two games, but he came out firing in game three, displaying a more attacking brand of squash as he raced to an 11-5 win in less than six minutes.
A high backhand volley winner brought that game to a close, and Zakaria left the court to loud cheers of encouragement from the crowd, with the young Egyptian having become somewhat of a fan favourite throughout the week, especially with the students of London’s Western University.
He then cruised into a 10-6 lead in game four, but Malik set the nerves jangling by reeling off three points in a row, with Zakaria motioning to his coaching corner that he needed to keep his cool.
Keep his cool he did, with a stroke on the following rally ending the game, sending the match into a decider as the hour mark approached.
With momentum against him, Malik knew he likely needed a fast start to game five, but instead the tide continued to flow Zakaria’s way, as he was quickly 5-1 up. 5-1 soon became 10-1 handing him nine championship balls, but he only needed one, with another high backhand volley proving too good for Malik to reach.
“It’s the best summer one can ask for, but it’s no surprise, I’ve worked incredibly hard to be here,” Zakaria said after victory, referencing his success at the WSF World Junior Squash Championships in July.
“The Western guys’ atmosphere is incredible. They were cheering for me all week, it was an incredible atmosphere and I was so happy I could scrap the win today.
“It was 2-0 down and I said to myself… Oh my God you’re going to regret this, your birthday is tomorrow and you’re going to have the worst birthday ever, so you need to push. And I pushed and I found a way and I completely changed the momentum, and I was extremely happy to get this title.
“At the beginning the rallies were neutral. Sometimes I was controlling them, sometimes he was controlling them. I didn’t go for my shots, didn’t have my creativity, so I just said, okay you’re losing this way, change everything, go for shots and let’s see what happens. So I started that in the third and I won it very quickly so I just got the momentum and the confidence.”
