Egypt’s Aly Hussein avenged his recent loss to Rui Soares as he defeated the Portuguese player in three games on the opening day of the Pittsburgh Open 2024.
Hussein, who was defeated by the World No.58 at the Motor City Open exactly seven days ago, couldn’t be separated from Soares in the first game, as the pair stayed within two points of each other for all but one point of the opener.
In an opening game marred by 15 separate refereeing decisions, Soares earned himself the first game ball. Hussein got the better of a counter-drop battle and had Soares on his heels after a well-timed cross-court shot, eventually levelling the score with a backhand drop.
From there, Soares saw the lion’s share of the game balls, but the two were still inseparable to 15-15. A well-disguised straight drive caught Soares out to give the Egyptian a chance to claim the colossal first game, and quick trickle boast earned Hussein a hard-fought 1-0 lead.
From there, Hussein looked to be in command of the encounter, claiming the second game 11-6. Soares rallied in the final game, but Hussein ultimately proved too strong and finished his Motor City Open redemption by forcing a mistake from the World No.58 with a tight squeeze along the right wall to win the third game 11-8 and claim his place in tomorrow’s second round.
After the match, Hussein said: “It feels awesome, he just beat me last week, in Detroit, and honestly I didn’t lose to him twice, in two tournaments in a row,” said Hussein after the match.
“I’m really happy with the way I played, I implemented the game plan just as I wanted and it payed off, I stayed tough throughout the three games and managing to win in three feels special.
“I was really getting on annoyed at myself for not getting any game balls, he was just getting all the game balls and I was trying to equalise. I think I played well as soon as I got the chance to go a game ball up and I managed to convert.
“I’m just going to go in and have fun; I have nothing to lose,” said Hussein on his upcoming match with No.2 seed Marwan ElShorbagy. “Marwan is a really good friend of mine, I love him so much so I’m just going to enjoy my time and hopefully play well, maybe win. We’ll see how that goes.”
Elsewhere, Malaysia’s Addeen Idrakie beat out home favourite Todd Harrity in a five-game thriller.
The Malaysian had a fast start as he charged to a quick 11-6 first-game win. From there, Harrity found parity at 1-1, winning by an 11-8 scoreline after Idrakie’s backhand effort struck the tin.
The American won an equally-close third game to take the lead, but Idrakie responded with a strong performance in game four to take the match the distance, and pushed on to win the match 11-6, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9.
“First of all I think I played quite well,” Idrakie said after the match. “What I did good today is I really prepared for a tough match. A good win for me, and credit to Todd that he pushed me until the last set.”
Earlier in the session, home favourite Andrew Douglas defeated India’s Abhay Singh in 25 minutes in the first match of the tournament, while India’s Velavan Senthlikumar, after a emphatic 11-2 first game, began the action on court three with a strong 3-1 win over Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue.
Day two of the Pittsburgh Open begins at 16:00 (GMT-5) on Thursday, 8th February, with action from both courts live on SQUASHTV. For more information on the Pittsburgh Open, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Results: Pittsburgh Open RD1
Andrew Douglas (USA) bt Abhay Singh (IND) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-2 (25m)
Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bt Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) 3-1: 11-2, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8 (41m)
George Parker (ENG) bt Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 (31m)
Aly Hussein (EGY) bt Rui Soares (POR) 3-0: 17-15, 11-6, 11-8 (65m)
Addeen Idrakie (MAS) bt Todd Harrity (USA) 3-2: 11-6, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 (79m)
Simon Herbert (ENG) bt [WC] Asser Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 (28m)
Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 13-11, 11-9, 11-5 (45m)
Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) bt Yannik Omlor (GER) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 (20m)
Draw: Pittsburgh Open RD2
16:00 Andrew Douglas (USA) v [4] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)
16:45 [1] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v George Parker (ENG)
17:30 Aly Hussein (EGY) v [2] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG)
18:15 [3] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v Simon Herbert (ENG)
16:15 [8] Faraz Khan (USA) v Velavan Senthilkumar (IND)
17:00 Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) v [5] Adrian Waller (ENG)
17:45 [6] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v Addeen Idrakie (MAS)
18:30 Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) v [7] Cesar Salazar (MEX)
