Home hopes Gregoire Marche and Baptiste Masotti stole the spotlight on the opening day at Paris Squash 2024.
In front of enthusiastic home crowds, the pair produced thrilling 3-2 victories over England’s Marwan ElShorbagy and Qatar’s Abdulla Al-Tamimi, becoming the only French players to advance to the second round.
In a nail-biting contest, Marche showed his undoubted quality, racing out to a 2-0 lead and looking certain to be progressing to the next round. ElShorbagy, known for his tactical prowess and intelligent squash, fought back to level the match at 2-2. Marche, spurred on by the home crowd, managed to find extra reserves in the deciding game to take it 11-4 and move into only his second Platinum event last 16 appearance in over two years.
It looked as though Marche was set to be the only home player featuring in the second round with Masotti trailing 2-0 in the final match of the day’s play. The Qatar No.1 was sharp out the gates and allowed Masotti no time on the ball whatsoever.
Baptiste Masotti recovers from 2-0 DOWN to win in FIVE in front of a home crowd in Paris 🇫🇷
What a match! 🤯#ParisSquash pic.twitter.com/SKt0boR8DH
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) September 15, 2024
With the boisterous Parisian crowd behind him, the 29-year-old Frenchman mounted his comeback and started to put pressure on Al-Tamimi, who eventually ran out of winners to give France a second home winner of the day.
In the women’s event, the fairytale comeback of 12-time French national champion Camille Serme was brought to a grinding halt as she fell to World No.1 and top seed Nour ElSherbini in straight games on the all glass court at the famous Cirque d’hiver Bouglione. Serme came through the qualifying event with flying colours but was understandably no match for the 7-time World Champion.
The only seeding upset of the day came from Squash Horizon as Egypt’s Farida Mohamed claimed a five-game win over Belgium’s No.7 seed Tinne Gilis. The match was full of intense rallies and superb athleticism, which showcased both players in the best light. Mohamed twice took the lead but the spirited Gilis wouldn’t go down without a fight. The higher ranked Belgian held two match balls in the fifth game but Mohamed found some superb winners to turn the tables and earned a stroke on her first match ball to seal the win.
Results: Paris Squash 2024 Women’s RD1
[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt Camille Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 (24m)
Tomato Ho (HKG) bt [WC] Lauren Baltayan (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 (29m)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 3-1: 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3 (35m)
[5] Olivia Weaver (USA) bt. Mariam Metwally (EGY)3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (34m)
[8] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) bt Joelle King (NZL) 3-1: 8-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-6 (38m)
Salma Hany (EGY) bt Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 12-10 (26m)
Lucy Turmel (ENG) bt Hana Moataz (EGY) 3-2: 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 7-11, 11-7 (59m)
[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-1, 11-2 (26m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt Sabrina Sobhy (USA) 3-0: 12-10, 11-9, 0-0 ret. (36m)
Jasmine Hutton (ENG) bt Lucy Beecroft (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-1, 11-3 (21m)
Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) bt Hana Ramadan (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (26m)
[6] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt. Aifa Azman (MAS)3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 (22m)
Farida Mohamed (EGY) bt [7] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-2: 11-7, 4-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10 (49m)
Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 3-1: 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4 (37m)
Tesni Murphy (WAL) bt Hollie Naughton (CAN) 3-1: 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 (45m)
[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-2, 11-5 (29m)
Results: Paris Squash 2024 Men’s RD1
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Timothy Brownell (USA ) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 (34m)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) 3-2: 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-4 (59m)
Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [WC] Melvil Scianimanico (FRA) 3-2: 11-6, 6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9 (66m)
[8] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) bt. Greg Lobban (SCO) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (32m)
[6] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt. Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-1: 12-14, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 (55m)
Joel Makin (WAL) bt Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 12-10, 11-1 (46m)
Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (27m)
[4] Diego Elias (PER) bt Iker Pajares (ESP) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (41m)
[3] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 (36m)
Leonel Cardenas (MEX) bt Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 3-1: 11-5, 11-8, 12-14, 11-3 (72m)
Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) bt Raphael Kandra (GER) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 (37m)
[5] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Auguste Dussourd (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (36m)
[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Fares Dessouky (EGY) 3-0: 12-10, 13-11, 11-4 (42m)
Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) bt. Nathan Lake (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (34m)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt. Abdulla Al-Tamimi (QAT)3-2: 8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10 (65m)
[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 (47m)
Draw: Paris Squash 2024 Women’s RD2 (Top-Half) – to be played 16 September
[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) v Tomato Ho (HKG)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v [5] Olivia Weaver (USA)
[8] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v Salma Hany (EGY)
Lucy Turmel (ENG) v [4] Nele Gilis (BEL)
Draw: Paris Squash 2024 Men’s RD2 (Top-Half) – to be played 16 September
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v Gregoire Marche (FRA)
Adrian Waller (ENG) v [8] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG)
[6] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Joel Makin (WAL)
Youssef Soliman (EGY) v [4] Diego Elias (PER)
Draw: Paris Squash 2024 Women’s RD2 (Bottom-Half) – to be played 17 September
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Jasmine Hutton (ENG)
Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) v [6] Georgina Kennedy (ENG)
Farida Mohamed (EGY) v Amanda Sobhy (USA)
Tesni Murphy (WAL) v [2] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Draw: Paris Squash 2024 Men’s RD2 (Bottom-Half) – to be played 17 September
[3] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v Leonel Cardenas (MEX)
Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) v [5] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Baptiste Masotti (FRA)
Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v [2] Paul Coll (NZL)