17-year-old Zakaria Stuns World No.6 Momen In El Gouna Opener

Egypt's 17-year-old World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria claimed the pick of the wins on the opening day of action in the final Platinum event of the 24/25 PSA Squash Tour season when he beat world No.6 and former World Champion Tarek Momen in straight games in the 13th edition of the El Gouna International Open in Egypt.

Zakaria was not pulling any punches from the outset of the match, holding his own around the middle of the court and working the ball into good areas to disrupt Momen. The world No.25 showed no signs of any nerves and looked determined to score an upset on day one and after winning the opening game 11-6, looked like he would take some stopping.

Momen started to find his range in the second game and tried to use his trademark short game to trouble Zakaria, but the teenager was up to the task. He managed to edge ahead on the scoreboard at 11-10 and converted the game ball to lead by two games.

In a scrappy third game, both players were determined to leave it all out on the court. Momen earned the first game ball at 10-9 to breathe more life in the contest but back came the youngster, winning three points in a row to close out the match, remarkably in three games, to score his biggest win and move into the next round.

"I think the way I played the big points made the difference today," said the teenager.

"As soon as we would go to 7/7, 8/8, I was so clever, so smart in my squash. I knew how important the rally was, how important it was to win it, that it could change the whole match, so I was playing them differently, and I was getting his best shots back, and I was showing him I would be able to get them 20 times if I had to.

"I'm so thankful, the court today should favour him, but I was so happy with the way I played, closing it out in three and against a player like Tarek. It's a statement. A wake-up call for the rest, to know that I'm coming!"

Zakaria's win was the only seeding upset of the day, however, compatriot Farida Mohamed scored a win over her fellow Egyptian and world No.8 Rowan Elaraby in straight games. Elsewhere in the women's draw, former world No.3 Joelle King rolled back the years as she overturned a 39 ranking place deficit to beat current world No.10 Amanda Sobhy in a five game thriller.