El Gouna (Egypt), April 5 – Abhay Singh rallied to defeat Egyptian world No. 13 Aly Abou Eleinen 9-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-4, 11-8 in the men's opening round of the El Gouna Open, a PSA Platinum event.
Abou Eleinen managed to win the first game 11-9. Singh immediately responded in the second, finding his rhythm and leveling the score with a 11-8 win. The momentum swung wildly in the middle of the match. Abou Eleinen dominated the third game, capitalizing on a series of unforced errors from Singh to take it 11-3.
Facing a 1-2 deficit, Abhay was completely reset in the fourth, turning the tables with an aggressive 11-4 win to force a deciding game. He then stunned Abou Eleinen after fighting back from a 7-3 deficit in the deciding game.
World No. 25 Abhay will next meet Egyptian sixth seed and world No. 7 Youssef Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, World No. 20 Anahat Singh lost to World No. 1 Egyptian Hania El Hammamy, who advanced with a 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 first-round win in the women's section.
The 18-year-old Anahat, the recent Indian Open champion, flew out of the blocks with her unorthodox attacking strokeplay, racing into an early 7-5 lead. However, top seed El Hammamy began to grow into the contest as she fought back to claim the first 11-8, and move through a one-sided second by an 11-5 scoreline.
At 4-0 up in the third game, El Hammamy looked to be in control, but Singh showed great character to claw her way back into the contest with a string of stunning winners, winning nine of the next 10 points. Despite El Hammamy bringing the scoreline back to 10-9, Singh held on to force a fourth game with a stunning game-ball winner.
Singh's deceptive attacks continued to cause problems for El Hammamy as the fourth progressed, but it was the 2022 champion who held strong in the latter stages to clinch a hard-fought 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 after 49 minutes of play.
