Baltayan Marks PSA World Championships Debut With Upset Win

France's 19-year-old world No.50 Lauren Baltayan secured her maiden win at the CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships after an impressive performance which saw her upset world No.28 Lucy Turmel on the opening day of the prestigious tournament at Golf Central Palm Hills in Giza.

The Cairo-born teenager was making her debut at the sport's premier tournament but showed no nerves on the biggest stage as she entertained fans during a 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 11-7 win which saw her pull off some impressive dives around the court.

"I'm feeling amazing, you don't get to be on a glass court like this every day," said the European Junior champion.

"I was very nervous at the beginning, but then I started feeling better as the matches went on and started playing more freely. It's a step in the right direction, I train every day for moments like this. I'm very happy to be able to get into the second round and I'm happy to have my family and friends here, having them here is a huge motivation for me. I'm grateful to have this strong support system around me.

"All of the work that I'm putting in is starting to show now. In matches like this, I don't have any pressure on me. I'm just gaining more experience and learning more about these matches. These are the matches I want. They're helping me grow."

Baltayan will take on Satomi Watanabe in the next round after the Japanese No.1 beat Haya Ali in straight games, while world No.1 Hania El Hammamy had to be on her mettle as she recovered from dropping the first game against 17-year-old surprise package Ruqayya Salem.

Salem was also making her first appearance at this tournament after winning the Africa qualifying event and, like Baltayan, looked comfortable on court against a higher-ranked opponent.

El Hammamy, aiming to win her first World Championship trophy this week, was able to halt her opponent's momentum though and took the next three games without reply to secure her spot in the last 32.

"Ruqayya is very attacking, I have never played her before and I couldn't find any clips of her playing to study beforehand," El Hammamy said.

"The preparation is a bit hard when you've never seen them play. She takes every shot short, so whenever my length went a bit short, she was firing it in, and it was really high quality. It was hard for me to keep digging and find a way to get through."

There were also wins for No.3 seed Amina Orfi and No.5 seed Sivasangari Subramaniam, while men's world No.1 Mostafa Asal got his title defence underway with a comfortable 3/0 triumph against German veteran Raphael Kandra.

"I'm feeling good, I'm here to compete and to take the title home again," Asal said afterwards.

"It makes a huge difference. All of my friends and family are here. It's a big push and a big bonus for me. It's always a good match against Raphael, he's always entertaining, and I'm really happy with this first round win."

Asal will be joined in round two by arch-rival Diego Elias, who got the better of England's Nick Wall in straight games in the final match of the night.

Elias beat Asal in the 2024 final and ended the Egyptian's 27-match unbeaten run last month in El Gouna. The pair are seeded to meet in the semi-finals this week, but will need to beat India's Veer Chotrani (Asal) and Argentina's Jeremias Azaña (Elias) in the last 32 first.

"I'm feeling good, it's the biggest tournament of the year," said Elias.

"From the first point, I have to be at 100%. I'm feeling good, so hopefully this week goes well. Usually it's a bit hotter out here, but it's actually quite cold. It should get warmer as the event goes on this week."

Meanwhile, World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria beat Asal's younger brother Marwan, while No.5 seed Joel Makin also advanced, beating Muhammad Asim Khan.