El Torkey Takes Out No.6 Seed Crouin To Reach World L16

Egypt's world No.21 Kareem El Torkey reached the last 16 round of the CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships after scoring a big upset against No.6 seed Victor Crouin in Giza, Egypt.

The Giza-born 21-year-old is appearing at the sport's most prestigious tournament for the first time in his career and put in a composed performance at the Palm Hills Club to nullify an out-of-sorts Crouin, claiming an 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 victory. El Torkey will play compatriot and No.11 seed Youssef Soliman for a place in the quarter-finals.

"I didn't think of my opponent today as a higher seed," said El Torkey afterwards.

"I just thought that he's another opponent and I'm here to play my squash, I'm here to win. I didn't think about him being one of the top five or top six players, and I think that's why I got through today and played some very smooth squash.

"My coach always tells me that I play good squash, and I have a good physical game as well. He just told me to stay solid, keep my mind in the game, think of every shot, one shot at a time. I enjoy playing in Egypt, to be honest, because you don't get on an airplane and change your food and your sleeping habits. It feels pretty comfortable for me, and I think that's why my performance here in Egypt is very high."

El Torkey will be joined in the last 16 by reigning World Champion and world No.1 Mostafa Asal, who continued his storming start to the tournament with a dominant 3/0 win over India's Veer Chotrani over at the glass court at Golf Central Palm Hills.

'The Raging Bull' - who turned 25 years of age 24 hours earlier - will take on Mexico's Leonel Cardenas in the next round after Cardenas got the better of Englishman Curtis Malik.

"Veer and I have played a lot together before and I'm pleased to see him here, playing his best squash," said Asal.

"We've played a lot in juniors before, we played in the World Juniors as well. We always train in New York together. Veer is one of the players that can catch you off at any moment in time, so I'm really happy to get the win today. I'm glad to have Jimbo here with me, as well as Haitham Effat and my uncle in my corner, it's the biggest tournament of the year, we're taking it match by match, and I'm ready for the next match."

No.2 seed and 2019 World Championship runner-up Paul Coll is also through after he took apart France's Baptiste Masotti, winning in straight games, and his third round opponent will be Nathan Lake. The unseeded Englishman has returned to this stage of the tournament for the first time since 2023 after getting the better of Muhammad Ashab Irfan 3/0.

World No.21 Melissa Alves has reached round three for the first time since 2019 after storming past No.7 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir to carry French hopes into the last 16 of the women's event. The 32-year-old won 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 to set up a third round meeting with No.12 seed Salma Hany.

"It feels amazing, but the way I played today is really all matters,' said Alves.

"I'm very proud of what I did today because I worked really hard for this. I spent a lot of time studying for this match, and it happened today in front of my mom, so it's the best feeling. I knew I could play this level of squash, but it's been quite some time. I've been training, I thought I'd been playing really well in practice, but I didn't manage to cross the line really in matches and haven't had a big win for quite some time since Qatar maybe."

World No.1 Hania El Hammamy continued her title assault with a one-sided victory against USA's Caroline Fouts. Her third round opponent will be Sin Yuk Chan, who upset Marina Stefanoni to become the first player from Hong Kong to reach the last 16 since Annie Au in 2019.

"It's my first time playing against Caroline and she's very solid, especially on the backhand side," El Hammamy said after playing her 400th PSA match.

"It's exciting, we're approaching the end of the season and I think we've played against almost all of the players so many times, so I think it's good to challenge myself when playing different opponents. Obviously, there are different styles of play for those opponents, which is a good challenge for me. It makes me stronger mentally, trying to find solutions mid-game and mid-points as well."

Fellow Egyptian Nour ElSherbini is still on course for a record-breaking ninth PSA World Championship title as the No.2 seed aims to surpass Malaysia's Nicol David. The 30-year-old will play USA's Amanda Sobhy next.