Momen upsets Elias as Xbox World Tour Finals get under way in Bellevue
World No.8 Tarek Momen scored the biggest upset on the opening day of action at the 2023-24 Xbox PSA World Tour Finals as he beat World Champion Diego Elias at Bellevue’s Boys and Girls Club Hidden Valley Field House to move to second in Group B of the men’s event.
Momen put in a dominant performance to win 11-7, 11-4 and sits level on four points with New Zealand’s Paul Coll in Group B and they will both qualify for the semi-finals if they both beat Mazen Hesham and Elias in Thursday’s Round Two.
World No.1 Ali Farag – who is yet to win the PSA World Tour Finals – currently tops Group A on four points after beating 2018-19 winner Karim Abdel Gawad 2-0. Reigning men’s champion Mostafa Asal is in second after a win over two-time winner Mohamed ElShorbagy by the same scoreline. Asal is behind Farag due to Farag having a higher percentage of points won during his match.
Defending champion Nouran Gohar kickstarted her attempts to win a third PSA World Tour Finals crown as she overcame England’s Georgina Kennedy by an 11-7, 11-10 margin. Gohar tops Group B ahead of the woman she beat in last season’s World Tour Finals title decider, Hania El Hammamy. A 2-0 win for Gohar over El Hammamy tomorrow will see her qualify for the last four.
World No.1 Nour El Sherbini tops Group A, level on points with US No.1 Olivia Weaver after they beat Belgian sisters Nele and Tinne Gilis.
WA [4] Olivia Weaver (Usa) 2-0 [8] Tinne Gilis (Bel) 11-9, 11-8 (27m)
WA [1] Nour ElSherbini (Egy) 2-0 [6] Nele Gilis (Bel) 11-3, 11-2 (15m)
WB [3] Hania El Hammamy (Egy) 2-1 [7] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 (40m)
WB [2] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 2-0 [5] Georgina Kennedy (Eng) 11-7, 11-10 (24m)
MA [1] Ali Farag (Egy) 2-0[5] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 11-7, 11-2 (22m)
MA [3] Mostafa Asal (Egy) 2-0 [8] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Eng) 11-6, 11-4 (27m)
MB [7] Tarek Momen (Egy) 2-0 [4] Diego Elias (Per) 11-7, 11-4 (21m)
MB [2] Paul Coll (Nzl) 2-0 [6] Mazen Hesham (Egy) 11-9, 11-2 (22m)
