Doha — First blood, Jonah Bryant. This will be remembered — should the rivalry develop as many predict it will over the next decade or so — for many a year as Bryant and Mohamed Zakaria played out a wondrous match over five games and 109 minutes. ‘MoJo’ has been born after this Qatar Classic second-round thriller.
And so, in a marvellous tussle, the Englishman beat the Egyptian. Usually for these two nations, it is a late-developed Briton playing a young Alexandrian. Not these two. Bryant, who turned 20 in July, overcame Zakaria, just 18, by a 6-11, 16-14, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7 scoreline.
This match deserves to be published in the SquashMad archives as a match for the ages already. The quality, dexterity and lunging was unrelenting. Spare a thought for each players’ legs come 2035.
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Those down the backhand side behind the glass also had the best seats in the house for this £10 box office clash. So good was the accuracy down the left wall that neither player seemed able to switch sides. At the end, after the tightness of it all which included Zakaria cramping up in the fourth game and also getting increasingly penalised for his movement, Bryant had advanced to a second world tour quarter-final. Suddenly, a semi-final is there for the taking for the Doha debutant.
🔥 An absolutely MAMMOTH rally between Mohamad Zakaria & Jonah Bryant!!! pic.twitter.com/D3zu74g6Xy
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) September 30, 2025
Moreover, in his first full season and having played the longest match of his career, Bryant has accrued more points on the road to a first World Series Finals.
“There was a lot at stake and it was a case of trying to play the best squash in the moment that I could and keep the error count low,” said Bryant. “It was unknown territory but my body held up which is a good sign.”
The first game was largely consigned to the notebook after this humdinger such was the quality of the next 100 minutes. There were still lengthy rallies and not an inch given. The Egyptian took it, his fourth in a row after his straight-game scalp over Joel Makin.
The opener did offer a glimpse into what may occur over the next few years with both players’ leg lunges at both the front and the back. Zakaria opened a lead from 3-2 up with a crosscourt overhead volley and then, on game ball, an audacious low backhand winner from well above the T line.
The second was a marvel and got more captivating over its 35-minute length. It also set the tone for Bryant to work Zakaria tight down the backhand wall. There were cute cut shots and backhand drops from deep thrown in.
He opened a 7-2 lead and then at 8-6 before Zakaria tried his luck for the court cleaners, which had notably started in the first game, as well as his penchant for cleaning his glasses. Remarkably, he still has another year left under World Squash rules. Further, for a player who shows signs of tiredness early on, he does have bundles of never-say-die spirit.
With a softer ball, the attacking remained unforgiving. Four times Bryant also returned serve on the backhand with padded, defensive forehand shots, largely without being punished.
At 10-10, the game turned both risky and riveting. We also saw Zakaria performing celebrations akin to a championship-winning shot after one stroke went his way. A stroke reversal followed with the next point. It was now ever so tight mid-court. Two young stags entwined, like a jumped-up BJO final for the professionals.
Bryant, though, was holding himself back. Zakaria was twice warned for going to wipe his glasses. At 14-14 it was the kind of phase in the match where no cheap points were on offer. Bryant eventually crossed the line as the game went well past the 30-minute barrier with a stroke. Zakaria was warned for ‘unacceptable movement’ in between. It was breathless stuff.
The 18-year-old gifted tyro held the advantage through the third. He was watched on the front row of the sidewall seats by the great Jonathon Power, who was fidgeting and thrusting down the seat next to him with every decision which didn’t go the way of his new summer charge. Instead of instilling some discipline to quell the blocking against no-nonsense officials, however, Zakaria kept to the theme which, in the end, proved his downfall.
From 5-3 to 8-6, Zakaria was warned for time wasting as Bryant kept to the task. At 11-10, the Egyptian let out a roar before a let was given. At the second time of asking came a frenzied, belly-dancer-like celebration as he left court.
😲 Just look at that celebration from Mohamad Zakaria!
He’s taken a massive 2-1 lead over Jonah Bryant in Doha 💪 pic.twitter.com/4irMM5CZTp
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) September 30, 2025
The fourth saw a brace of strokes fall Bryant’s way. There was little in the way of change of pace or periods down the forehand wall. A tight game (the shortest of the match) saw Bryant keep the lead at 9-7, a moment which saw Zakaria walk gingerly and the first signs of cramp. He tinned on game ball with an overhead and then asked (denied) for an injury time out.
There was no let up in the decider. Everything had by now been invested into this one, ever since Bryant scored the opening point with a stretched leg volley winner.
The Englishman was further helped with two opening strokes to his advantage as a 5-1 lead developed. At 5-3 the match past the 100-minute mark as Zakaria willed on the next gen crowd with some piercing low winners.
At 8-6 to Bryant perhaps the turning point in the whole match. Three times he somehow retrieved Zakaria’s rifling forehands from a double bounce, a rally which ended on a stroke to the Briton. “It was a huge big shift in momentum,” Bryant admitted later. “When you get points like that and he feels like he’s got the hard end of the stick it can mess with you mentally and I knew I had to make a big push. I managed to get over the line.”
At 9-6, he put a finger to his head to keep him thinking. It was the officials who were then made to work in the closing stages. First, Zakaria was handed a no let when he stopped the rally, for not playing the ball with space there to do so. Then, on match point, Bryant was awarded a stroke. Zakaria, who no doubt felt hard done by, opened the door and offered a brief handshake.
Having been vocal as he pleaded for space mid-court throughout the match, finally world No.20 Bryant let out a roar of his own.
“He’s phenomenal but let’s not forget I am two years older than him,” Bryant said of Zakaria.
“Age relative, he’s way better and if I played him at 18 I would hardly get a point. Everyone has a different path and gets to their level at different times. Just because, age relative, he’s better now doesn’t mean he will be when we are both at our peaks. I am sure he will come back harder and there will be more matches like that.
“I’m not that focused on results, more the day to day and putting in the extra hard yards and solo practice, doing everything I can to maximise my ability and we’ll see how far it takes me – hopefully to the top.”
First, though, a day off and a last eight clash with Qatari Abdulla Al-Tamimi. The task gets no easier against a tide of home hope.
Tale of the tape
An unseeded Bryant, a shade taller and 5kg heavier at 75kg, beat Zakaria in last year’s Irish Open final and the latter seeing off the Englishman 3-0 at the Sutton Coldfield Invitational in 2023.
From the midlands to the Middle East, Tuesday’s clash in Doha was their biggest match yet since the Egyptian, 18, beat Bryant, 19 in the 2024 British Junior Open final.