Malliff Upsets French No.1 Alves In Paris Opener

World No.41 Katie Malliff scored the biggest upset on the opening day of the Paris Squash 2023 after beating French No.1 Melissa Alves in four games in the PSA World Tour Platinum event at the Parvis du Palais de Tokyo.

The Englishwoman, who defeated the world No.21 at the Squash on Fire Open earlier this year in the pair's first ever meeting, won the first two games in tiebreaks 13-11 and 12-10.

With her home crowd behind her, Alves pulled one game back when she took the third 11-9 and, after a lengthy injury break in the fourth after Malliff accidentally caught Alves in the face with her swing, Malliff came out victorious to defeat Alves 11-7.

"It was a tough match. I knew it was going to be a hard one as Melissa is very physical and you usually have long rallies. I tried to stick in there, be patient and wait for my opportunities to attack," Malliff said.

"I usually go in with a lot of belief that you can beat anyone you're on court with. I just try to focus on my game and keep it as simple as possible."

In the men's draw, Fance's Auguste Dussourd held off Henry Leung to win 3/2 and progress to the second round.