Murphy Beats No.7 Seed Aboelkheir to Reach London Classic Quarter-Finals
Welsh World No.21 Tesni Murphy booked her place in the quarter-finals of the London Squash Classic presented by Bassim Haidar for the first time after upsetting No.7 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir at Alexandra Palace earlier today.
Murphy has started the 2025-26 season well after winning the British National Squash Championships for the third time last week and continued her good recent form with a 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 win over the Egyptian at the Gold-level event.
It was a tight match which saw Murphy play the big points well, and the 32-year-old kept her composure after being hit in the leg by the ball following a shot from Aboelkheir. Her reward is a last eight match against Japan’s No.3 seed Satomi Watanabe.
“It’s a big win to start the season,” said Murphy afterwards.
“To beat someone like Fayrouz is no mean feat, so I’m pretty buzzing. The leg is a bit sore, I don’t think it was intentional, but it riled me up. It kind of helped, I was frustrated and it fired me up and got me going.
“You don’t really know how your summer training has gone until you get into the matches. I took a lot of confidence last week from how I played and captured another Nationals title. I think the people that have played Nationals this season seem to be playing better because we’ve had these matches in us.”
Belgium’s No.8 seed Nele Gilis had a scare against English wildcard Grace Gear but recovered to win 3-11, 11-7, 11-6.
The World No.14 started slowly and took a while to find her rhythm as Gear picked her off around the middle of the court. Gilis cut out the errors though to claim victory and admitted that she came into the match with nerves.
“I wasn’t quite hitting my targets and she was punishing me,” said Gilis afterwards.
“She came out very aggressive and caught me off guard a little bit. I know she’s been playing very well and I was actually ready for it, but I was so nervous. It got better towards the end, but she was just punishing my loose balls. It’s always in the first match of the season that you have those nerves because you haven’t played on a stage like this in a couple of months. Hopefully I’ll be better in the next round.”
Gilis will play top seed Olivia Weaver for a place in the last four, while men’s No.1 seed Diego Elias stormed to a 2-0 win over Frenchman Baptiste Masotti, winning 11-4, 11-5 to set up a match with Egypt’s No.7 seed Youssef Ibrahim.
Elias, whose last appearance in England saw him become the first Peruvian to win the British Open, said: “He’s a very attacking player and it wasn’t the best draw to have him in best of three in my first match. I tried to be as focused as I could, then I went 4-0 down in the first game, which wasn’t the best.
“But I regained my focus and played well for the rest of the match. There is less pressure now that I’ve won the British Open too. I’m still only 28, I have a few years ahead of me and I want to achieve more. We’re used to going to the same venues every year and everyone has their own routines. I’ve had a good time here in London and the court is beautiful.”
Former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy rolled back the years to overcome fellow Englishman Jonah Bryant in the final match of the day. The 34-year-old, 14 years Bryant’s senior, utilised a number of different angles and boasted the ball frequently to outmanoeuvre the World No.26, winning 11-6, 11-9 despite a late fightback from the younger man.
ElShorbagy, who reached the top 10 of the PSA World Rankings for the first time when Bryant was just five years old, will now take on PSA Squash Tour Finals champion Joel Makin in the quarter-finals.
“It’s like when I played [Mohamad] Zakaria at the end of last season,” said ElShorbagy afterwards.
“I know these two are probably going to be World No.1 and No.2 at some point, so I’m happy I’ve got these wins over them. Now I can retire and be a happy man. He’s [Bryant] the future of this country and we need to support him a lot, he’s a future World No.1 and World Champion.
“I don’t have much time left, I know that. I don’t have the energy I used to have, but I’m still at No.7 in the world and I’m still one of the best players in the world. Every time I’m on court, I have a chance, and as long as I’m playing I will give it everything.”
Round two of the London Squash Classic presented by Bassim Haidar continues tomorrow (Thursday September 4), with the action getting under way from 13:00 (GMT+1) at Alexandra Palace. All matches will be streamed live on SQUASHTV.
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Results – Men’s Second Round (Top Half): 2025 London Squash Classic presented by Bassim Haidar
[1] Diego Elias (PER) bt Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 2-0: 11-4, 11-5 (25m) [7] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) bt Perry Malik (ENG) 2-0: 12-10, 11-6 (28m) [5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Jonah Bryant (ENG) 2-0: 11-6, 11-9 (30m) [3] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 2-0: 11-5, 11-3 (29m)Draw – Men’s Second Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played September 4th
[4] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) v [WC] Adrian Waller (ENG)Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [8] Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
[6] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v Dimitri Steinmann (SUI)Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v [2] Paul Coll (NZL)
Draw – Men’s Quarter-Finals Round (Top Half): To Be Played September 5th
[1] Diego Elias (PER) v [7] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) [5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) v [3] Joel Makin (WAL)Results – Women’s Second Round (Top Half): 2025 London Squash Classic presented by Bassim Haidar
[1] Olivia Weaver (USA) bt Rachel Arnold (MAS) 2-0: 11-9, 11-8 (22m) [8] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Grace Gear (ENG) 2-1: 3-11, 11-7, 11-6 (38m)Tesni Murphy (WAL) bt [7] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 2-1: 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 (44m)
[3] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt Lucy Turmel (ENG) 2-0: 11-3, 11-2 (15m)Draw – Women’s Second Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played September 4th
[4] Tinne Gilis (BEL) v Jasmine Hutton (ENG)Tomato Ho (HKG) v [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
[6] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) v Georgia Adderley (SCO)Sabrina Sobhy (USA) v [2] Amina Orfi (EGY)
Draw – Women’s Quarter-Finals Round (Top Half): To Be Played September 5th
[1] Olivia Weaver (USA) v [8] Nele Gilis (BEL)Tesni Murphy (WAL) v [3] Satomi Watanabe (JPN)
