The Round of 16 of the "2023 TTI Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open" was concluded today. The four-time Men's champion, No.4 seed England's Mohamed ElShorbagy secured himself into the Quarter-finals and to face his younger brother, No.7 seed Marwan ElShorbagy tomorrow. While the defending Women's champion, No.2 seed Egypt's Hania El Hammamy and No.4 seed Belgian Nele Gilis also advanced.
Mohamed ElShorbagy defeated Argentina's Leandro Romiglio today with scores of 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 in just 25 minutes to secure his spot in the Quarter-finals, while his younger brother, No.7 seed Marwan ElShorbagy had a tough 55-minute match against French player Auguste Dussourd 14-12, 18-16, 11-9.
Mohamed ElShorbagy, who gained the titles of Hong Kong Open in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018, expressed his enjoyment of competing in Hong Kong, saying, " I always liked playing here and felt good every time. And now entering the later stage of the tournament, I need to prepare myself to bring up my A game." Mohamed will meet his younger brother, Marwan in tomorrow's Quarter-finals. They have faced each other 21 times before, and Mohamed won 15 times. "He beat me last week in Singapore by 3-2. It's always nice when we play each other. I think we do give something unique to the sport."
The remaining two Quarter-finals spots for the Men's event were secured by the second seed, Peru’s Diego Elias and the No.5 seed, Paul Coll from New Zealand. Diego Elias was leading after winning the first game. However, the 9/16 seed, former World No.1 Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad was forced to retire 2-7 due to injury. Meanwhile, Paul Coll defeated the 9/16 seed French player Victor Crouin by 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5) to advance.
In the Women's event, the No.2 seed and defending champion, Hania El Hammamy from Egypt, comfortably defeated her compatriot, Zeina Mickawy, who was seeded 17/32, in straight games (11-6, 11-8, 11-8) to advance to the next round. On the other hand, the No.4 seed, Nele Gilis from Belgium, had a more intense match against the 9/16 seed, England’s Sarah-Jane Perry. Nele initially took a two-game lead, but Sarah managed to tie 2-2. After a thrilling battle lasting 66 minutes, Nele emerged victorious with 3-2 (11-3, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-2), securing her first-ever career win over Sarah. Nele remarked, "She is a player with full of fight and I knew she could stage a comeback. So, I'm proud to find a way to win the fifth set!"
Sivasangari Subramaniam, the latest Asian Games gold medalist and winner of the Hong Kong Football Club Open 2023, dominated her match against the 9/16 seed, Hollie Naughton from Canada, winning in straight games (11-5, 11-5, 11-7) and become the only player seeded 17/32 to advance to the Quarter-finals. However, another Malaysian player, Aifa Azman, who was seeded 9/16, was eliminated by the No.8 seed, Rowan Elaraby from Egypt in straight games (7-11, 5-11, 9-11).
The Quarter-finals will take place tomorrow, followed by the Semi-finals and Finals at the Cultural Plaza, Xiqu Centre of West Kowloon Cultural District over the weekend.