Rising Egyptian Stars Salem & Assal Shine on Opening Day of 2026 Egyptian Open

Egyptian 18-year-olds Ruqayya Salem and Marwan Assal scored a pair of major seeding upsets on the opening day of the CIB Egyptian Open 2026, defeating Rachel Arnold and Baptiste Masotti, respectively, at the Diamond-level event in Cairo.

Lucky Loser Assal claimed his first-ever World Events victory on the PSA Squash Tour after the world No.90 fought back from a game behind to stun world No.20 Masotti by a 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-6 scoreline.

Assal, the younger brother of current world No.1 Mostafa Asal, had suffered a gruelling 96-minute defeat to Ibrahim Elkabbani in the qualifying finals earlier in the week at O West Sporting Club. However, he made the most of his second opportunity to set up a second-round tie with No.14 seed Yahya Elnawasany.

"I'm feeling so happy right now. I played some super squash today," Assal said after the match.

"I'm really exhausted from this match, and before yesterday in qualifying I had such a tough match, 96 minutes, and I'm a Lucky Loser from that!

"Lucky Loser means a lucky shot.

"I played very well today and I'm so happy with my performance. I'm really looking forward to my next match."

Meanwhile, world No.55 Salem secured her second win from as many meetings with the in-form world No.22 Arnold, who recently pulled off a major upset over eight-time World Champion Nour ElSherbini at the Qatar Classic.

The Egyptian teenager replicated her four-game win over the Malaysian at last year's British Open with an equally impressive victory in Cairo, coming from a game behind to seal her spot in the second round by an 12-14, 11-9, 14-12, 11-4 scoreline.

Elsewhere, Malaysian duo Joachim Chuah and Yasshmita Jadishkumar both celebrated their maiden Diamond-level victories on the PSA Squash Tour.

Qualifier Chuah, who recently graduated from college and is competing in his first full season on the PSA Squash Tour, backed up his recent NASH Cup title win with a comprehensive three-game victory over Swiss veteran Nicolas Mueller. The 22-year-old's opponent in the second round will be world No.1 Mostafa Asal.

Lucky Loser Jadishkumar, meanwhile, defeated Egypt's Mariam Metwally by an 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 scoreline.

Other notable winners on the opening day in Cairo were Patrick Rooney and Yannick Wilhelmi, who came through tense five-game encounters with Curtis Malik and Toufik Mekhalfi, respectively.