El Hammamy Reaches World No.1 While Seeds Scatter in Shanghai

Egypt's Hania El Hammamy will become world No.1 in the PSA World Squash Rankings for the first time in her career after victory over Tomato Ho of Hong Kong in the last 16 round of the 2025 China Open.

The China Open is a Gold-level event on the PSA Squash Tour. Rounds one and two are taking place at Diamond Squash Center in Shanghai, with play moving to the spectacular show court at the Shanghai Xian Xia Tennis Center for the quarter-finals onwards.

World No.2 El Hammamy arrived in Shanghai needing only to complete her match with Ho to dislodge compatriot and long-term rival Nouran Gohar atop the rankings next Monday (17 November), but the 25-year-old underlined her claim to the honour with a hard-fought victory, taking down the world No.31 11-9, 11-8, 12-10.

"I'm struggling with the jet lag and my sleep is not really good - I actually only woke up an hour and a half before the match and I was really struggling to get myself going," El Hammamy admitted afterwards. "But I'm glad I got through today, though, and I'm glad the day is over. I think tomorrow's going to be the day when I realise that I've become the world No.1!

El Hammamy will look to tighten her grip on the top ranking when she meets defending champion Rachel Arnold in the last eight. Arnold, the world No.22 from Malaysia who produced an uneven performance in the first round, played some of her best squash in an upset victory over No.5 seed Nele Gilis.

In the match of the day in the women's draw, Egyptian No.7 seed Salma Hany dug deep to rescue four match balls in a five-game victory against Malaysia's Aifa Azman, who herself had recovered from two games down to lead 10-7 in the decider.

In the men's event, three seeds tumbled as Egyptian stars Mohamad Zakaria, Mohamed Abouelghar and Kareem El Torkey took down No.8 seed Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia, No.5 seed Victor Crouin of France and No.7 seed Mazen Hesham of Egypt.

In a frenetic 64-minute encounter that was far closer than the final 3/0 scoreline suggests, Zakaria showed his growing quality to defeat Ng, with the highlight of the match being an epic 28-minute-long second game which Zakaria clinched 13-11. The win for Zakaria means he closes the gap on the top ten and will take on defending champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in the last eight, with ElShorbagy surviving a testing encounter with Baptiste Masotti.

On his upcoming match against ElShorbagy, Zakaria said: "He hasn't been doing well the last couple of matches, but I know with my match he's gonna play like he hasn't played all season. He's gonna play the best he's played, he's gonna be up for it and I know that. I've been preparing for that and I'm ready for a big match. He's beaten me the last two times so I have nothing to lose playing a big name of the game."

In another commanding Abouelghar performance in Shanghai, the 32-year-old proved too strong for world No.6 Crouin. World No.25 Abouelghar has often played his best squash in China, winning the China Open in 2018 and finishing runner up last year, and today was a continuation of that form, with Abouelghar reading the court conditions far better than Crouin to secure an 11-7, 6-11, 11-2, 11-3 victory in 39 minutes.

El Torkey, meanwhile, played an intelligent physical game to overcome former world No.5 Hesham, who is still returning to his best form after a long-running injury nightmare.

In the match of the day, England's No.3 seed Marwan ElShorbagy - younger brother to Mohamed - clinched a five-game victory over France's Gregoire Marche, with ElShorbagy junior edging the deciding game 11-9 on a controversial stroke decision that left Marche apoplectic. That win for ElShorbagy will see him take on El Torkey in the quarter-final.