Elsirty, Wilhelmi & Masotti Claim Five-Game Wins On Opening Day In Pittsburgh

World No.64 Moustafa Elsirty, world No.53 Yannick Wilhelmi and world No.23 Baptiste Masotti claimed entertaining five-game wins on the opening day of the 2025 Pittsburgh Open, as the PSA Squash Tour Silver event got underway in Pennsylvania.

In an exciting opening match at Rivers Club, Egypt's Elsirty came back from two games behind to upset former world No.3 Omar Mosaad.

The 'Hammer of Thor' dominated the early phases of the match, making shots in both front corners and claiming both game one and two to be just a game away from the second round.

Elsirty rallied, and despite the matches being plagued with decisions, the younger Egyptian was more lively around the court, looking strong to win two close games 11-8, 11-9 and level the match at two-all.

The final game was close-fought, as Mosaad brought the game to a tie-break after an early disadvantage, but Elsirty managed to edge the game 12-10 to claim his spot in the last 16.

Speaking after the match, Elsirty said: "I'm feeling happy. I haven't been playing those big tournament in a while so I'm very grateful to be back and very grateful to win the first round here.

"Omar is an amazing player. I went into the first game and I wasn't quite sure what to do with him and was testing things and he showed me that I needed to take everything serious from the beginning so glad to be back from 2/0 down and to fight back in that last game 12-10. It was a very very intense match."

In an entertaining battle on Court 2, Switzerland's Yannick Wilhelmi came out on top of a close five-game battle with Hungary's Farkas Balazs to claim his place in the second round.

After a very strong start from Farkas to gain a 1/0 lead, the match became very close, with Wilhelmi equalising with an 11-7 second-game win. The Hungarian retook the lead, but Wilhelmi claimed the fourth game in a tie-break to take the match to a fifth.

The match's climax was far less evenly-matched, as the Swiss player stormed to a decisive 10-2 lead before finishing clinically to claim his spot in the next round.

In yet another five-setter, France's Masotti overcame a 2/0 deficit from England's Jonah Bryant to reach the next round.

The young Englishman had an incredibly strong start to the match, controlling the rallies in a thrilling first two games, winning 11-5, 11-9 to take a 2/0 advantage in the match.

Masotti, with World Champion Diego Elias in his corner between games, came back into the match, and while the games were still close, the Frenchman had the edge in each game to win 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 from behind.

Other winners on day one included Colombia's Juan Camilo Vargas, India's Velavan Senthilkumar, and Egypt's Mohamed Abouelghar, who all came through their respective bouts in four games.