The second round of the Optasia Championships 2026 concluded with all eight seeded players avoiding defeat to complete the quarter-final line-ups – and defending champ Mostafa Asal completing his 20th straight win with 60 games unbeaten.
Only two matches throughout the day saw a score other than 3-0 as Farida Mohamed and Marwan Elshorbagy were both tested by Chan Sin Yuk and Curtis Malik, respectively.
Elshorbagy was looking to be the first home player through to the quarter finals but didn’t have things all his own way against a stubborn Malik. In what was quite a scrappy fixture, both players were desperate to control the middle and keep the other behind them wherever possible. Despite the traffic issues that this created, Elshorbagy was able to keep his quality high and move to a 2-0 lead.
Malik showed his resilience in game three and came out fighting to win 11-8 and breathe more life in the contest. Elshorbagy’s experience came to his rescue in the fourth game as he intelligently picked his moments to attack and ran ahead to win 11-5 and earn a spot in the last eight.
Elshorbagy will now face Wales’ Joel Makin tomorrow after he defeated Declan James in a high-quality 60-minute battle. The other quarter-final in the top half of the men’s draw will see top seed and World No.1 Asal face former World Champion Mohamed Elshorbagy, after they made light work of Juan Vargas and Ramit Tandon.
Farida Mohamed versus Chan Sin Yuk was arguably the most entertaining match of the day, with two contrasting styles going head to head for only the second time on the PSA Squash Tour. Chan won the only previous meeting between the two back in 2023, winning in three games in Washington D.C.
Today’s meeting saw power take on precision as Mohamed’s severe ball striking proved to be too much for a competitive Chan, who made more errors and left the ball loose too many times to earn the victory. Both players shared the opening games 13-11 before Mohamed showed her toughness to win the next two games both 11-9 to score the win.
“It’s my first match in two months since my injury, I almost had surgery done so, it was challenging,” said Mohamed after her win.
“Especially against Simmie [Chan], I knew how hard it would be, but I’m happy with my performance.
“I think I’m known for hard-hitting and against her, it’s so tough to play good shots because she has such good shots herself. But I wanted to stay aggressive most of the time and thankfully it went well today.”
Mohamed was one of three female Egyptian winners on day three as World No.1-chasing Nour ElSherbini marked her first ever Optasia Championships match with a win over Mariam Metwally, whilst No.6 seed Nada Abbas won the first match of the day against Zeina Mickawy. England’s Georgina Kennedy kept home hopes alive in the women’s draw with a ruthless victory over Haya Ali, winning 3-0 in just 24 minutes.
Results: Optasia Championships 2026 Men’s Round Two
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Juan Vargas (COL) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 (31m)
[7] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 (29m)
[6] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) bt Curtis Malik (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 (56m)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Declan James (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 (60m)
Results: Optasia Championships 2026 Women’s Round Two
[4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Haya Ali (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-9 (24m)
[8] Farida Mohamed (EGY) bt Chan Sin Yuk (HKG) 3-1: 13-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9 (44m)
[6] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (32m)
[2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 12-10 (30m)
Draw: Optasia Championships 2026 Men’s Quarter Finals – to be played March 27
[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Rachel Arnold (MAS)
[3] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v [5] Amanda Sobhy (USA)
[4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) v [8] Farida Mohamed (EGY)
[2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) v [6] Nada Abbas (EGY)
Draw: Optasia Championships 2026 Women’s Quarter Finals – to be played March 27
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v [7] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) v [6] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG)
[3] Diego Elias (PER) v Noor Zaman (PAK)
[2] Karim Gawad (EGY) v [5] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)