Tenth Time Lucky In Texas As Marche Topples ElShorbagy

Gregoire Marche put in a stunning display to upset former world No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy and reach the Cotidie Texas Open quarter-finals, recording his first career win over 'The Beast' at the 10th time of asking.

The Frenchman has enjoyed a successful start to 2025, headlined by a round one win over Karim Abdel Gawad at the Tournament of Champions, but he came into this matchup as the underdog nonetheless, having lost his nine previous meetings with Elshorbagy.

He also sits 15 places below the Englishman in the world rankings, but there was almost nothing between the two players early on, as they went into a first-game tiebreak at Houston Squash Club.

It was Marche who ultimately took it after saving a game ball at 10-9 down, and he was soon on the brink of victory after winning the second 11-4 and moving 8-4 up in the third.

Only one of Marche's previous nine defeats to Elshorbagy had been in five games, but that occasion had seen him lose a 2/0 lead, so it was perhaps unsurprising that the Frenchman was feeling some nerves as the victory line edged closer.

From 8-4 up he then found himself level at 9-9 before seeing a first match ball come and go at 10-9, having to save a pair of game balls in the tiebreak to avoid going into a fourth.

But he ultimately did get over the line, with Elshorbagy - appearing to be struggling physically but determined not to give in - tinning a forehand at 13-12 down.

"He's been one of the best players ever in the game," Marche said after his win.

"I'm not sure that I truly believed that I would beat him one day, and it was so tough even just to finish it off at the end there.

"To be able to get the win today was great. We're both 34 years old and we're both playing at this level, I'm really proud of this. I've never beaten him on tour before, but I need to relax now and think about doing it again in two days time."

Later in the day, Ali Farag and Youssef Ibrahim produced a thrilling encounter which lasted 94 minutes, ending with the world No.1 and defending champion coming out on top.

For large parts of the match, most notably when Ibrahim was 3-0 up in the deciding fifth game, it looked as though the world No.14 was on track for another major upset, just one week on from beating Diego Elias in Pittsburgh.

He was unable to pull off the win, though, cutting a frustrated figure - both at some refereeing decisions and his own play - as game five progressed, going down 11-6.

In the women's draw, No.4 seed Tinne Gilis also needed all five games to get past Egypt's Hana Moataz, in a match that swung back and forth several times.

After taking the opening game with some outstanding attacks on the volley, Moataz found herself behind as Gilis controlled the pace of play in the next two games, only for the Egyptian to claw her way back into the match and force a decider.

The Belgian, though, showed her class when it mattered and raced into a 5-2 lead on the back of some quick fire rallies - something that had been a feature of the match as a whole - converting that lead into an 11-4 success to reach the quarter-finals.