Soliman Fends Off Scianimanico in 82-Minute Hamburg Open Epic

Men's top seed Youssef Soliman staved off a resurgence from Melvil Scianimanico in an 82-minute epic to progress to the semi-finals of the Sportwerk Hamburg Open 2026.

Scianimanico, who's claimed some big upsets already this season by dispatching former World Champions Karim Gawad and Mohamed ElShorbagy at the Texas Open, recovered from 2/1 down to force a fifth game with the world No.12.

However Soliman, who edged a monumental third game 16-14 which was settled after 30 minutes, held his nerve in the decider to win 11-7 against the French youngster to earn his place in the semi finals.

"You can't even hold him, you're doing all these things to break his movement, but it's so tough to do!" Soliman said on court post-match.

"I was just trying to hang in there with him, sometimes he'd fire winners in and I couldn't do anything about that but I'm just happy to be through.

"In the fourth, I didn't know what happened, but it was definitely a mental lapse. I wanted to show more in the fifth game and I didn't want to go out like that, and I'm so glad I could show a better version of myself in the last game."

Soliman will meet Baptiste Masotti in the semi finals after the Frenchman quelled a fightback of his own from Veer Chotrani, claiming a 12-10, 9-11, 14-12, 9-11, 11-6 success.

The second men's semi-final will be contested between Egyptian pair Aly Abou Eleinen and Fares Dessouky after they defeated Balazs Farkas and Sam Todd, respectively.

No.2 seed Eleinen dominated proceedings against the Hungarian to seal a 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 victory in what was his first match of the event after being awarded a walkover yesterday due to Mazen Hesham withdrawing with injury. Dessouky, who was runner-up last year to Victor Crouin, defeated Todd 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7 to reach his third semi-final this season.

In the women's draw, No.1 seed Salma Hany recovered from 1/0 down to overcome Joelle King for a semi-final berth.

The Egyptian was a semi-finalist in her last outing in Hamburg two years, and the world No.15 has reached the same stage again after holding firm against New Zealander King.

In what was their first meeting on the PSA Squash Tour for almost five years, it was Hany's attacking prowess which came to the fore as she overturned the 1/0 deficit to triumph 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7.

"Joelle has been playing amazingly since she's come back, she's got so much experience and I was really enjoying being on court with her again," Hany said.

"I knew she could outplay me so I knew I had to dig deep and never give up, even if she's on top in patches, but I'm really happy with how I played.

"Movement obviously plays a huge part. If you're not moving well, then you're in a bad place, but I feel like since my injury I was getting better all the time and I'm just trying to get all the puzzle pieces back together."

Hany meets Jasmine Hutton in the last four after the Englishwoman downed Malak Khafagy in straight games.

Melissa Alves and Nele Gilis will lock horns in the second women's semi-final after they came out on top against Hollie Naughton and Marta Dominguez, respectively.

Alves stretched her unbeaten run over Naughton to four matches by winning 12-10, 11-5, 11-6, while Gillis held off Bronze-level quarter-final debutante Marta Dominguez 3/1.