Our 5 takeaways from the draw
A few days ago, the PSA unveiled the draws for the Paris Squash 2024, which will take place from September 15 to 21 at the Cirque d'Hiver-Bouglione. As it turns out, all the best players in the world will be there for what promises to be an amazing tournament. Here are our 5 takeaways from the draw.
1 - NO SLOW START
A few weeks ago, we told you about the new Platinum tournaments, which feature 32-player draws and only 8 seeds. What does it mean? That the world No. 9 is as much at risk as the No. 30 of a tough draw, and we find ourselves with mouthwatering clashes in round 1. Here are our picks: in the men’s, WR11 Victor Crouin facing former world champion Karim Abdel Gawad (currently WR6), WR3 Mostafa Asal against Miguel Andel Rodriguez (WR15) who at 38 is still capable of pulling something in a given match, WR9 Joel Makin against WR14 Aly Abou Eleinen and an all-Egyptian affair between WR7 Tarek Momen and WR18 Fares Dessouky, who is top 10 material when healthy.
Olivia Weaver vs. Amina Orfi will be one of the most awaited first round matches on September 15 (Photo credit: PSA Squash Tour)
In the women's draw, we’ll have our eyes on two former world No. 3s who have not played for almost a year due to injury. Joelle King (WR60 but using a pegged ranking of No. 9) will face WR8 Rowan El Araby while WR10 Amanda Sobhy will go head-to-head with WR13 Satomi Wanatabe. When they met for the first time a few months ago, WR5 Olivia Weaver perfectly resolved the Amina Orfi equation, but there is no doubt that the world No.12 and three-time reigning World Junior Champion will want revenge. Finally, WR14 Sabrina Sobhy had caused the biggest upset of the Paris Squash 2023 when she took out WR3 Hania El Hammamy in the round of 16, and they will meet again at the Cirque d'Hiver. Interestingly, 5 of these 8 matches will take place at Squash Horizon, so it might be worth a visit… Click here to visit our tickets section!
2 - THEY WILL ALL BE THERE
Is it the will to discover this new format, or the city of Paris appeal? The 60 players who were guaranteed a spot in the main draw due to their world ranking have all entered the Paris Squash 2024. Looking back in the past, this never happened in recent years on the PSA World Tour.
Combined Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini have 11 World Championships in their resume (Photo credit: PSA Squash Tour)
Here are a few figures which demonstrate how exceptional the Paris Squash 2024 field is. Among the 64 entrants, there are:
=> 7 world champions: Nour El Sherbini (7 titles), Ali Farag (4), Nouran Gohar, Mohamed ElShorbagy, Diego Elias, Tarek Momen and Karim Abdel Gawad (1).
=> 8 current or former world number 1s: Ali Farag, Nour El Sherbini, Nouran Gohar, Mohamed ElShorbagy, Diego Elias, Karim Abdel Gawad, Mostafa Asal and Paul Coll.
=> 19 players who played at least one final in a major event: all those mentioned above + Marwan ElShorbagy, Victor Crouin, Youssef Ibrahim, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, Fares Dessouky, Nele Gilis, Amanda Sobhy, Joelle King, Hania El Hammamy and Sarah Jane Perry.
3 - ARE FAVORITES IN DANGER?
Amazingly, Nouran Gohar and Nour El Sherbini have faced each other in every single major final since the start of 2024. The only player who’s managed to trouble them on a consistent basis in recent years is Hania El Hammamy. If things go according to seedings, she will face Nouran Gohar in the semi-finals. Among their potential opponents on the way, only one has already beaten them: for Gohar, it is Amanda Sobhy, who’s making a comeback after rupturing her Achilles last December, while El Hammamy had been upset by Amanda’s younger sister Sabrina last year in Paris. On paper, El Sherbini should make the final, provided she beats Olivia Weaver in the quarters and Nele Gilis in the semis.
Mostafa Asal v Paul Coll is a classic of modern squash (Photo credit: PSA Squash Tour)
As far as the men go, 4 players didn’t leave much for the rest of the field in major tournaments in the past few months. In the top half of the draw, world number 1 Ali Farag has a tough path to the final, with Marwan ElShorbagy in the round of 16 and then older brother Mohamed ElShorbagy in the next round. Then he is set to face world champion Diego Elias, who’ll have a complicated quarter against the player who will go through a section that looks like a minefield - Karim Abdel Gawad, Joel Makin, Victor Crouin and Aly Abou Eleinen, all ranked between 6 and 14 in the world. In the bottom half, we may be treated with a new episode of the Mostafa Asal vs. Paul Coll saga, these two having met 15 times over the past 4 years. Who are their potential banana skins? For the Raging Bull, Mazen Hesham in the quarters, while there are 3 Egyptians in Superman section, Fares Dessouky, Tarek Momen and Youssef Ibrahim.
4 - TOUGH DRAW FOR THE LOCALS
We told you above, the draw is paramount in the new Platinum tournament format and it was not kind to the French at the Paris Squash 2024. We have already talked about Victor Crouin, and five other locals will face top 10 players in round 1. For WR28 Sébastien Bonmalais, it will be one of the favourites, WR2 Paul Coll, while WR25 Mélissa Alves will be up against a familiar face – WR6 Georgina Kennedy. WR27 Grégoire Marche came very close to beating WR10 Marwan ElShorbagy last year in Paris and will be offered an opportunity for revenge. The task will also be big for the winners of the Wildcard Playoffs, who will face world number 1 Nour El Sherbini and WR5 Mazen Hesham. WR19 Baptiste Masotti and WR22 Abdulla Al Tamimi are two unpredictable players and their match is a hard one to call.
The draw was tough on French players, such as Victor Crouin who'll be facing Karim Abdel Gawad in round 1 (Photo credit: PSA Squash Tour)
The consequence is that the first day at the Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione will have a very local accent, with 5 French players featuring on the glass court. Relatively speaking, the two young wildcards got the best draw: WR120 Melvil Scianimanico will challenge tall Englishman Adrian Waller (WR26), who will play his first match after several months out, while WR96 Lauren Baltayan will play WR23 Tomato Ho. Even if they don’t pull an upset, the ranking points will propel them in the world rankings.
5 - MAILBAG
We told you after his win last year, Ali Farag has never lost a single match on French soil and will try to extend this streak. --- In the first round, the world number 1 will face a player who also went to Harvard University, Timothy Brownell. Besides these two, 5 other players are “Harvardians,” namely Victor Crouin, Amanda and Sabrina Sobhy, Georgina Kennedy and Hana Moataz.
Like in the Paris Squash 2023, Tomato Ho will face a wildcard in the first round (Photo credit: PSA Squash Tour)
For the second year in a row, Tomato Ho will face a young French player who was granted a wildcard. Last year, the Hong-Kong player was struggling physically and almost fell against Ana Munos, this time she will be up against Lauren Baltayan. --- We are 4 years away from the first appearance of our sport at the Olympic Games, and the Paris Squash 2024 proves if needed that it is universal. The 5 continents are represented for a total of 19 nations, with Egypt clearly ahead – 22 out 64, hence more than a third, followed by France (9) and England (8).
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