KARACHI: Egyptians Mohamad Zakaria and Aly Abouy Eleinen turned things around, scoring emphatic victories against former world champions to set up a title showdown at the Karachi Open on Saturday.
Both qualified for their first final at a Gold level tournament on the PSA Squash Tour with fifth seed Zakaria, the two-time junior world champion, quickly beating 2016 world champion and fellow top seed Karim Abdel Gawad 11-3, 11-9, 11-4 while Eleinen defeated compatriot Mohamed El Shorbagy, the 2017 world champion who was seeded fourth 11-4. 11-8, 11-6.
Zakaria, 18, had lost his previous three meetings with Gawad and said he was “in disbelief” after his 52-minute victory over the world number four.
“It’s so difficult to play against Karim,” he said.
“He has so many gears to go through. I’m still a little in disbelief that my plan will succeed.
“I lost to Gawad the last three times I faced him. I rewatched some of those matches today and something clicked. I knew what I was going to do and I’m so happy with how it turned out.”
Eleinen felt the same emotions after beating ElShorbagy in 31 minutes, two days after beating his rival’s brother Marwan El Shorbagy in the quarterfinals.
“Mohamed is a legend of the game,” said Eleinen. “He’s from Alexandria, I’m from Alexandria, so of course I grew up watching him all the time. I admired him so much – I still admire him so much.
“We’ll talk about what he’s done for the game for years and years. I wanted to show him so much respect today by giving it my all and playing my best, and I’m happy I did.”
Zakaria’s precision got him off to a fast start as he took an 8-2 lead before winning the first game.
The second game was closer and at 9-9, two consecutive no-let and yes-let decisions were converted into shots upon review, allowing Zakaria to take a 2-0 lead.
It was a big blow to Gawad’s hopes and Zakaria then killed the tie with an immaculate line hitting the wall from the backhand.
Eleinen weathered an early storm from ElShorbagy to win the first game before holding off a rally from his opponent while leading 8-7 in the second game.
The 26-year-old then dashed ElShorbagy’s comeback hopes by taking a 10-3 lead in the third.
On the women’s side, the ranking remained the same, with the first two winning their semi-finals.
Top seed Amina Orfi of Egypt beat out-of-balance Nada Abbas 11-4, 11-6, 11-5, while second seed Sivasangari Subramaniam of Malaysia was put to work by compatriot Aifa Azman before winning 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5.
Published in Dawn, January 11, 2026
