Marche & Masotti Carry Home Hopes Into Paris Squash Round Two

Home hopes were carried into day two of the Paris Squash 2024, the first Platinum event of the 2024/25 PSA Squash Tour season, held across three venues in the French capital. In front of enthusiastic home crowds, France's Gregoire Marche and Baptiste Masotti stole the spotlight, producing thrilling 3/2 victories over England's Marwan ElShorbagy and Qatar's Abdulla Al-Tamimi to become the only French players to advance to the second round.

In a nail-biting contest, Marche showed his undoubted quality, racing out to a 2/0 lead and looking certain to be progressing to the next round. ElShorbagy, known for his tactical prowess and intelligent squash, fought back to level the match at two-all. Marche, spurred on by the home crowd, managed to find extra reserves in the deciding game to take it 11-4 and move into only his second Platinum event last 16 appearance in over two years.

It looked as though Marche was set to be the only home player featuring in the second round with Masotti trailing 2/0 in the final match of the day's play. The Qatar No.1 was sharp out the gates and allowed Masotti no time on the ball whatsoever. With the boisterous Parisian crowd behind him, however, the 29-year-old Frenchman mounted his comeback and started to put pressure on Al-Tamimi, who eventually ran out of winners to give France a second home winner of the day.

In the women's event, the fairytale comeback of 12-time French national champion Camille Serme was brought to a grinding halt as she fell to world No.1 and top seed Nour ElSherbini in straight games on the all-glass court at the famous Cirque d'hiver Bouglione. Serme, competing in her first Tour event since the birth of her first child, came through the qualifying event with flying colours but was understandably no match for the seven-time World Champion.

The only seeding upset of the day came from Squash Horizon as Egypt's Farida Mohamed claimed a five-game win over Belgium's No.7 seed Tinne Gilis. The match was full of intense rallies and superb athleticism, which showcased both players in the best light. Mohamed twice took the lead but the spirited Gilis wouldn't go down without a fight. The higher ranked Belgian held two match balls in the fifth game but Mohamed found some superb winners to turn the tables and earned a stroke on her first match ball to seal the win.