Seeds Suffer While El Sherbini Successfully Starts World Title Defence in Chicago
5 May 2023
While several seeds suffered on day two of the men's event, world No.2 Nour El Sherbini was amongst the PSA World Championships winners as the Egyptian kickstarted her attempts to win an impressive seventh women's title with a victory over compatriot Hana Moataz, the world No.38, at the University Club of Chicago.
"I've never even seen Hana play before, so I didn't know what to expect," said El Sherbini, who will replace Nouran Gohar as the world No.1 on Monday.
"I'm pleased to be going back to No.1, but it's still a long week and a very important one for me. I just want to take it day-by-day without thinking about it that much. But, of course, I'm happy to be back to No.1 and hopefully I can keep this spot."
In the men's draw, world No.1 Diego Elias began his efforts to become the first South American World Champion with an 11-9, 11-7, 11-4 win against Germany's Raphael Kandra.
It was in the men's event that a pair of seeds failed to progress: Egypt's Karim Abdel Gawad claimed the bigger scalp when he took out compatriot Youssef Soliman, the 12th seed, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7. World Champion in 2016, Gawad will now face Switzerland's Dimitri Steinmann in round two.
Greg Lobban also pulled off a notable upset when he beat Swiss Nicolas Müller 11-2, 11-6, 11-9. Lobban became the second Scot to progress after removing the 14th seed and will now take on Egypt's Youssef Ibrahim for a place in the last 16.
Mohamed Abouelghar became the sole qualifier to advance to the second round when he overcame England's George Parker in straight games to set up an all-Egyptian clash with 10th seed Fares Dessouky.