Team USA’s Todd Harrity is through to the $15,000 Wasatch Advisors Salt Lake City Open semifinals following a three-game quarterfinal victory Thursday night at SquashWorks in Utah.

Harrity, the two seed, took out England’s eight seed 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 in thirty-two minutes to reach the semifinals where he will face Finish four seed Henrik Mustonen.

“It was a tough match,” Harrity said. “I was just trying to keep the pressure on and keep him behind me as much as possible. I was losing points where he was getting in front of me or if there were loose balls in the front of the court. So glad to have made it through in three because the second and third games were getting pretty close.”

Harrity is competing in the Salt Lake City Open for the first time.

“It’s my first time in Salt Lake City, which is great,” Harrity said. “I thought coming out here with the altitude that the ball would be zipping around and difficult conditions, but the courts are pretty true.”

The Princeton graduate is the only remaining American in the draw after compatriots Chris Gordon and Faraz Khan both exited in the quarterfinals.

Khan’s tournament came to an unfortunate and abrupt end in the first game when he was forced to retire due to injury against New Zealand’s Martin Knight. In the same half of the draw, former world No. 35 Alfredo Avila upset the seedings against Chris Gordon 11-7, 11-1, 9-11, 11-13, 11-5 in sixty minutes.

Friday’s semifinals begin at 6:30pm local time, 8:30pm ET. Follow live scores and view the draw on www.usproseries.com/live.

Report by David Keating

What a way to celebrate your fourteenth birthday. Play your second professional squash match against a number two seed and walk away with a 3-0 victory, your first pro win.

USA’s No. 1 junior, Marina Stefanoni, did just that Wednesday night. She exhibited a maturity beyond her years in defeating world No. 95 Sadia Gul of Pakistan in the round of sixteen at the Bitar Cosmetics – Play Squash PSA Women’s Open 2016 at the McLean Racquet and Health Club in Virginia.

“I was playing like a normal match,” said Stefanoni, an eighth grader from Darien, CT. “I wasn’t trying to think that it was anything bigger, so I wouldn’t get nervous.” She certainly didn’t look nervous.

Gul opened the match with a quick 2-0 lead, and spectators wondered if the young American could keep up with her skill and pace. But Stefanoni immediately countered with four straight points. It was a pattern that would often repeat during the match, where each player would reel off a streak of points.

Gul built an 8-5 edge in game one, and then Stefanoni turned the tables. She played two masterful lob shots to Gul’s forehand to win points seven and nine. The junior tied the game up at eight all with a forehand smash that nicked off the back wall. In all, she he reeled off six straight points to close out the first game 11-8. “I’ve been practicing [my lobs] recently,” said Stefanoni. “If you hit them high enough, you can play it as an attacking shot.” It worked.

At the beginning of game two, the pair traded points to 3-3 before Gul built a 7-3 lead. Stefanoni then took eight straight points to win game two, 11-7.

In the third game, Stefanoni built an 8-3 lead and victory seemed assured. But then Gul brought a higher level of urgency to her game. She surged back to 8-9 before Stefanoni hit a perfectly executed boast to bring it to match ball. Gul still managed to tie things up at 10-10, before Stefanoni closed out the game and match with a 13–11 win in the final game.

Stefanoni takes on South African Elani Landman, world #165, in the quarters Thursday.

Marina Stefanoni (USA) bt Sandia Gul (PAK) 11-8, 11-7, 13-11, (32 minutes)

World No. 1 Nour El Sherbini captured the Carol Weymuller Open, PSA W50 title for a second successive year after an assured display from the twenty-year-old Egyptian saw her defeat 2014 winner Alison Waters at the Heights Casino in Brooklyn.

El Sherbini, the reigning World Champion, breezed through to the final without dropping a game and defeated England’s Sarah-Jane Perry to book her place in the showpiece finale.

Waters, meanwhile, came up with the performance of the tournament in her semifinal fixture to overcome recent Delaware Investments U.S. Open winner Camille Serme in a blistering five-game battle.

It was the Englishwoman who lead the head-to-head record between the pair 4-2 coming into the match, but El Sherbini stormed out of the traps to hold a 6-1 lead in game one, only to see Waters fight back to claim game balls on two occasions.

A determined El Sherbini came back though to take it on the tie-break and, despite even starts to the second and third games, the Egyptian pulled away in both to wrap up a 13-11, 11-6, 11-3 victory to capture her first PSA World Tour title since she became World Champion in April.

“It’s a thrill to defend my title again this year after winning it last year, and that was the start of a really special season,” said El Sherbini.

“Let’s hope that this will be the start of a special season again this year.”

New Zealand’s Campbell Grayson battled back from two games down to defeat Scotland’s Greg Lobban in the final of the Life Time Chicago Open, PSA M15 tournament to claim his 11th PSA World Tour crown.

Grayson, the World No.42, was appearing at this tournament for the first time since he lost out to World No.15 Ryan Cuskelly in the final two years ago and followed up a comfortable opening round victory over Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio with consecutive five-game epics against Finland’s Henrik Mustonen and Germany’s Raphael Kandra to reach the final.

Meanwhile, Lobban’s path to the final was more straightforward as he dispatched Belgian qualifier Jan van den Herrewegen, Canadian Andrew Schnell and Mexico’s Arturo Salazar, dropping just two games in the process.

As such, Lobban was the sharper of the two competitors at the beginning of the final and raced into a two-game lead, before a knee injury at 9-9 in the third after an awkward landing meant that the World No.38 needed a short break.

That injury proved to be a huge turning point in the encounter as Grayson went on to win the third game, and he maintained his composure against a struggling Lobban in the final two games to record a 5-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4 victory to win his second PSA World Tour title of the year.

Result – Final: Life Time Chicago Open 2016
[2] Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt [1] Greg Lobban (SCO) 3-2: 5-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4

Report courtesy of PSA.

South African Stephen Coppinger made it two in a row at the Harrow Charlottesville Open, defeating Aussie Ryan Cuskelly for the second consecutive year to claim the silverware and keep the $25,000 U.S. Pro Series title at the McArthur Squash Center at the Boar’s Head Resort in Virginia.

Twelve months ago Coppinger downed Cuskelly 3-1 to take the crown but was forced to produce one of the finest performances of his career to retain the crown, fighting back from match ball down to halt the change of in-form Cuskelly.

The Australian, who reached last last four stage at the Hong Kong Open last month, started in ominous fashion as he commanded the court en route to opening up 1 5-1 lead before sealing the first game of the match and he then doubled his advantage after saving four game balls to inflict a tough second game loss on Coppinger and place one hand on the trophy.

It looked to be all over then in the third as Coppinger again squandered multiple game balls to allow Cuskelly a sniff of match ball, but this time the 31-year-old held strong to overturn the situation and get his name on the board and he was quickly back to parity after a strong fourth game.

With all to play for in the decisive fifth it was the reigning champion, who from 5-4 up, surged to the silverware courtesy of an 11-4 fifth game to bring to an end a 90-minute thriller.

“Absolutely delighted to retain the title here and get the season off to a winning start,” said Coppinger afterwards.

“Ryan has also been playing great squash and made it very difficult in the final. Thankfully I had a bit more left in the tank and was able to pull away in the end. Huge thanks to all, especially the crazy South Africans, my family included, who stayed up till the early hours to follow on the live streaming”

Charlottesville Open Final:
[2] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [1] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 3-2: 8-11, 13-15, 14-12, 11-9, 11-4 (90m)

England’s world No. 87 Jaymie Haycocks took the plaudits at the Kiva Club Open, $5,000 U.S. Pro Series tournament after an assured display saw him defeat United States player Dylan Cunningham in straight games in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Fifth-seeded Cunningham was making his PSA final debut fifteen months after making his PSA Tour debut. The Philadelphia-based twenty-two-year old reached the final with quarterfinal upset over the two seed, Adam Murrills, and a semifinal walkover.

In the top half of the draw, one seed Haycocks breezed into the final without losing a game.

In Sunday’s final, a patient approach from Haycocks in the opening game saw the Birmingham-based thirty-two-year-old go 6-3 ahead, before Cunningham settled into the match, and the pair were neck and neck until Haycocks triumphed on the tie-break.

The early stages of the second game saw the scores delicately poised until Haycocks pulled away from 7-7, taking four successive points to double his advantage.

Haycocks then dominated a six-minute third game for the loss of just three points, powering to a 12-10, 11-7, 11-3 victory to claim the fourth PSA World Tour title of his career.

Result – Final: Kiva Club Open 2016
[1] Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) bt [5] Dylan Cunningham (USA) 3-0: 12-10, 11-7, 11-3 (35m)

Egyptian Karim El Hammamy secured the first PSA World Tour title of his career as he defeated Trinity graduate Vikram Malhotra in the $10,000 Segnatek Engineering Texas Open Squash Championship final at the Downtown Club at the Met in Houston.

The U.S. Pro Series season opener saw American top seed Chris Gordon upset in the first round against Mexican teenager Jesus Camacho in five games, opening up the top half of the draw. Sixth-seeded Hammamy, the 2013 world junior champion, shook up the bottom half of the draw by defeating English two seed Eddie Charlton in a five-game quarterfinal.

Trinity College had two alums in the semifinals in the form of Vikram Malhotra and Chris Binnie. Malhotra, the four seed from India, progressed to the final by defeating five seed Martin Knight in the quarters and eight seed Danish Atlas Khan in the Semis. Binnie, the seven seed from Jamaica, reached the other semifinal with two five-game victories. After losing the first game against Binnie, Hammamy clawed back to reach the final in four games.

In Sunday’s final, the 20-year-old Egyptian played with patience and precision, coming from behind in all three games, to see off Malhotra and claim his first silverware in 28 tournaments.

Final:
[6] Karim El Hammamy (EGY) bt [4] Vikram Malhotra (IND) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 12-10