Alkass Digital
Egyptians Ali Farag and Nouran Gohar, the Number ones in men's and women's world rankings, highlight this year's QTerminals Qatar Classic draw, PSA announced yesterday.
The PSA World Tour Platinum event will see the return of the women's event since 2015 when the tournament begins at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha from September 9.
With the now-retired Laura Massaro winning the event eight years ago, it is guaranteed that a new name will be etched onto the women’s trophy, and it’s World No.1 Nouran Gohar who will headline the 48-women draw for the second PSA World Tour Platinum event of the 2023-24 campaign.
Gohar will receive a bye into round two where she will come up against either Emily Whitlock of Wales or Ineta Mackevica of Latvia. From there, she is seeded to come up against World No.9 Olivia Fiechter and World No.7 Amanda Sobhy before a mouthwatering semi-final with arch-rival Hania El Hammamy. On the opposite side of the draw is World Champion and No.2 seed Nour El Sherbini, who reached the final of the Qatar Classic in 2015. The likes of World No.10 Rowan Elaraby, World No.6 Nele Gilis and World No.4 Joelle King will stand between El Sherbini and the final.
Malaysia’s former World No.5 Low Wee Wern and Egypt’s World No.62 Malak Khafagy have taken the wildcard spots in the women’s draw. They will face World No.28 Nada Abbas and World No.31 Lucy Turmel, respectively, in round one.
The men’s draw will be headed up by two-time champion Farag. The World No.1 – a Qatar Classic champion in 2018 and 2020 – will look to improve on a disappointing third round exit last year and is seeded to play compatriots Mohamed Abouelghar, Fares Dessouky and Tarek Momen – who won his World Championship trophy in Qatar in 2019 – in his first three matches.
In the semi-finals he is seeded to meet No.4 seed Paul Coll, who was a losing finalist in both 2020 and 2021.
Peruvian Diego Elias is seeded at No.2 and he returns to the scene of his first Platinum title win, when he defeated Coll to take the trophy in 2021, becoming the first South American to win the prestigious title.
He is seeded to play defending champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in a mouthwatering semi-final contest. ElShorbagy has four Qatar Classic trophies under his belt and is one win away from a 50th PSA title – he would become only the fourth man to achieve that milestone.
Qatari No.1 Abdulla Mohamed Al Tamimi will take on Frenchman Lucas Serme in round one, while his compatriots Syed Azlan Amjad and Salem Al Malki take the wildcard spots.
The tournament kicks off with the first round of the women’s event on Saturday September 9 and the final will take place on Friday September 15. The men’s event will be held between September 10-16. Total player compensation of $375,000 – split equally between the men’s and women’s events – will be on offer.
Action from the glass court will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV, while the semi-finals and finals will also be shown live by PSA’s broadcast partners.