Capella & Dartnell Lead US March Into British Junior Open Semis

USA's Christian Capella and Alexander Dartnell upset the seedings to reach the BU19 semi-finals on a dramatic third day at the 2025 British Junior Open in Birmingham.

Capella, the 5/8 seed, was outstanding in knocking out top seed Haritha Danial Jefri of Malaysia 11-4 11-7 11-8 on Saturday morning on the glass court at University of Birmingham Sport and Fitness. Capella is now two wins away from becoming only the second ever American male trophy winner at the BJO, following the success of his younger brother Carlton Capella in the BU13 in 2023.

"That was awesome, I really enjoyed that!" said the 17-year-old from New York. "I knew he'd had a bit of a struggle in earlier matches and I knew I was playing well. I came into today's match super confident and it paid off. It's great having this venue, the showcourt and SQUASHTV. We don't get that in the US. I'm going to go back and watch myself!"

Capella faces 5/8 seed Eiad Daoud in the semi-finals after the Egyptian's 11-9 11-9 12-10 win over England's 3/4 seed Abdallah Eissa. Capella's compatriot Dartnell, a 9/16 seed, won in straight games against 3/4 seed Low Wa-Sern of Malaysia and next faces Egypt's second seed Youssef Salem, who won a drama-filled 8-11 11-9 11-4 7-11 12-10 cracker against last weekend's unseeded Scottish Junior Open champion Oliver Dunbar of New Zealand.

Egypt's GU19 top seed Janna Galal was highly efficient in seeing off Dixon Hill to set up a semi-final with France's 3/4 seed Lauren Baltayan, who needed three tiebreaks to beat USA's 9/16 seed Alexandre Jaffe. The other semi-final sees second seed Nadien ElHammamy of Egypt take on compatriot Sohayla Hazem Farouk.

After her win over Hong Kong's Ena Kwong, Hammamy said: "Sohayla and I have played each other three or four times already this season and we've known each other from a very young age. She's a very tough player and a good attacker. I know I'll have to keep it in the back corners and take her volleys out of play. I hope it goes my way."

Baltayan shares France's title hopes with BU17 second seed Amir Khaled-Jousselin. The 16-year-old from Nancy saw off USA's 5/8 seed Yaseen Shalaby, but Jack Elriani did ensure American representation in the semis by defeating Egypt's 5/8 seed Michael Fayez in four games. His reward is a semi-final with top-seeded Egyptian Adam Hawal.

In the first match of the day on the University of Birmingham glass court, India's two-time BJO title winner Anahat Singh cruised past 9/16 seed Nadia Tamer to set up a GU17 semi-final with 3/4 seed Ruqayya Salem of Egypt. In the other semi, second seed Malika Elkaraksy will take on Helen Tang of Hong Kong.

In the BU15 draw, top seed Ali Khalil kept the England flag flying with a gutsy 14-16 11-5 11-1 4-11 11-4 victory over 5/8 seed Eyad Walid of Egypt. The local boy, who's based at West Warwicks, next faces 3/4 seed Egyptian Mohammed Ashraf Khalil, whilst the other semi sees No2 seed Yassin Bayoumi take on 5/8 seed Vivaan Mehta of the USA.

Three of the top four GU15 seeds - [1] Rama El Naggar, [2] Habiba Rizk and [3/4] Rinad Hytham Elmergawy - were victorious on Saturday. However, the other 3/4 seed, USA's Isabella Tang, was knocked out by [5/8] Layan Moustafa to complete an all-Egyptian semi-final line-up.

In the BU13, [1] Moez Tamer Elmoghazy of Egypt enjoyed a 11-4 11-8 9-11 11-9 win over [5/8] Yuan Xi Liu, who nevertheless set a joint record with Ziyuan Yin today by becoming the first Chinese players ever to reach the BJO quarter-finals. Elmoghazy next faces USA's [9/16] Brendon Chan who took out another Egyptian, [3/4] Ali Ismail. Sunday's other semi-final sees [2] Amr Moustafa take on Pakistan's only semi-finalist, 3/4 seed Muhammad Sohail Adnan.

The GU13 semi-finalists are all Egyptian. [9/16] Nazli Orfi, younger sister of world junior champion Amina, defeated a higher seed for the second day in succession by conquering [3/4] Yara Elzorkany. She next faces [9/16] Salma Elbaz, while [2] Talia Sherif faces qualifier Lilly Elsayed, who hit back from two down to beat China's [5/8] Ziyuan Yin.

There's another Egyptian lockout in Sunday's BU11 semi-finals after straight-games wins on Saturday morning for [1] Anas Tawfik and [2] Ryana Ghozlan, while both remaining 5/8 seeds, Selim Soliman and Hussein Ghoneim, scored upset wins over [3/4] Nik Izz Dameer Norifaizal of Malaysia and USA's [3/4] Anderson Morgan respectively.

The four top seeds all marched into the GU11 semis, with [1] Laila Mohamed Mohsen winning in straight games for the third match in a row to set up a clash with Egyptian compatriot [3/4] Lilya Medhat. USA's [3/4] Alice Wang came through a brutal five-setter with [5/8] Retaj Mohamed of Egypt to set up a semi-final against another Egyptian, second seed Farida Hakim.