By ALAN THATCHER (Squash Mad Editor)
Brother and sister Curtis and Torrie Malik will be competing in the finals of the Ampito Hove Open today at the Hove Fitness Squash Club in sunny Sussex.
Curtis Malik, seeded six for the Ampito 10K PSA Challenger Tour event, has managed to win three tough matches back to back.
He did it the hard way, winning all three matches by a 3-2 margin. He beat the Czech No.2 12-10 in the fifth after 73 minutes, then in the quarters beat No.2 seed Joe Lee, the former World 29, in 63 minutes after having won the first two games.
That set up yesterday’s semi-final against Joe’s younger brother Charlie Lee, the No.4 seed who is ranked 72 in the world. After exactly and hour on court, Curtis finished strongly to win the fifth game 11-6 to secure an all English final against Ben Coleman scheduled for 3pm today.
Ben also came through a tough draw, beating Israel’s Daniel Poleschuk in the first round before winning a 73-0minute battle against Welsh international Emyr Evans in four games lasting 76 minutes.
In the semi-final he took 73 minutes to win in five games against Simon Herbert, who had beaten top seed Mazen Gamal in the quarter-finals. Mazen had beaten squash legend Daryl Selby in the first round in a rare PSA outing for the England captain as he warms up for the Commonwealth Games.
Torrie Malik, seeded No.1 for the women’s 5K event, has played solid, constructive squash all week to win all of her matches in straight games to reach the final.
In the semi-finals she beat Menna Walid and faces another Egyptian, No.8 seed Zeina Zein, in today’s final, which is scheduled for 2pm.
Zeina is also in fine form, having beaten the No.2 seed, fellow Egyptian Ran Ismail, in four games with the last producing an emphatic 11-1 scoreline.
PSA Challenger Ampito Hove Open 2022, Hove Fitness and Squash Club, Hove, Sussex, England.
Men’s Final:
[6] Curtis Malik (ENG) v [3] Ben Coleman (ENG)
Semi-finals:
[6] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt [4] Charlie Lee (ENG) 13-11, 2-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6 (60m)
[3] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt [8] Simon Herbert (ENG) 12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-8 (73m)
Quarter-finals:
[6] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt [2] Joe Lee (ENG) 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 11-5 (63m)
[4] Charlie Lee (ENG) bt [5] Tom Walsh (ENG) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 (46m)
[3] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt [7] Emyr Evans (WAL) 11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8 (76m)
[8] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt [1] Mazen Gamal (EGY) 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 (40m)
First round:
[2] Joe Lee (ENG) bt Ondrej Vorlícek (CZE) 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 (31m)
[6] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt Viktor Byrtus (CZE) 12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10 (73m)
[5] Tom Walsh (ENG) bt Seif Shenawy (EGY) 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 (55m)
[4] Charlie Lee (ENG) bt [WC] Jonah Bryant (ENG) 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (36m)
[3] Ben Coleman (ENG) bt Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 (33m)
[7] Emyr Evans (WAL) bt Joeri Hapers (BEL) 11-3, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6 (54m)
[8] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt Harley Lam (HKG) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 (29m)
[1] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5 (61m)
Women’s Final:
[1] Torrie Malik (ENG) v [8] Zeina Zein (EGY)
Women’s Semi-finals:
[8] Zeina Zein (EGY) bt [2] Rana Ismail (EGY) 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-1 (33m)
[1] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt [6] Menna Walid (EGY) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (32m)
Quarter-finals:
[2] Rana Ismail (EGY) bt [7] Asia Harris (ENG) 11-5, 12-10, 11-6 (31m)
[8] Zeina Zein (EGY) bt [4] Saran Nghiem (ENG) 11-9, 2-11, 11-2, 11-2 (30m)
[6] Menna Walid (EGY) bt [3] Cheng Nga Ching (HKG) 9-11, 11-9, 14-12, 7-11, 11-8 (57m)
[1] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt [5] Kiera Marshall (ENG) 11-8, 11-8, 11-3 (26m)
Pictures courtesy of Team Malik
Results courtesy of the game’s premier results and stats service, www.squashinfo.com