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Abhay’s dream run in Zurich ends in quarters as former champion Karim rolls back the years
Abhay Singh’s dream run in Zurich came to an end in the quarterfinals as 2023 champion Karim Gawad rolled back the years with some of his finest squash to overcome the Indian 2-0 at the Grasshopper Cup 2026 on Friday.
Former World champion and World No.1 Gawad produced some high-quality enterprising squash throughout his 32-minute tussle with Abhay. The World No.3 came firing out of the blocks in the first, charging into a 6-0 lead with some scintillating finishes.
Abhay sets Zurich on fire as he squashes seventh seed Eleinen on way to quarterfinals
Abhay, who was appearing in his first-ever Gold quarterfinal, stormed back to level proceedings while some errors from Gawad helped him get back level. After seeing one of his game balls saved, Gawad converted in the tiebreak to go 1-0 up. Abhay was applying plenty of pressure on Gawad, which helped him open up a 5-2 lead in the second.
Abhay stood toe-to-toe with Karim
Abhay stood toe-to-toe with Gawad as he looked to find a foothold back in the contest, but the p.
Indian Abhay Singh put Karim Gawad under tremendous pressure but the Egyptian held firm to progress to the last four. Pics: PSA Squash Tour
“I’m really happy. The pace was really fast, we’ve only played twice but I feel like we’ve played more than that. In Qatar he beat me in four and today I got on court and thought I don’t want to lose again,” Gawad said.
“In best of three with one of the smartest and talented players on Tour, you can never see what he’s thinking with the next shot or the next rally. He can come back with crazy points as you saw in the first game when I was 7-0 up and he came back out of nowhere in less than three minutes we were tied. You can never underestimate what’s going to happen next to finish to the very end of the match,” he added.
Makin overcomes Pajares, meets Gawad in semis
Gawad will now take on Joel Makin, who staged a remarkable fightback against Iker Pajares in the last quarterfinal match. Makin, who hadn’t lost to Pajares in 10 years on Tour, had to earn his place in the last four by coming from 1-0 down to win 2-1 against the Spaniard.
The pair met recently at the Australian Open where Makin triumphed 3-1, and Makin was controlling proceedings in the first when he was 6-3 up. But Pajares charged back, and his excellent defensive work was rewarded as he went 1-0 up against the World No.5.
Joel Makin staged a remarkable fightback against Iker Pajares in the last quarterfinal match
Pajares, who ousted No.6 seed Youssef Soliman in round two, continued to be strong defensively as Makin looked to find a breakthrough in the second. The use of the lob helped unlock Pajares as Makin made it all square.
Makin, who was defeated by last year’s winner Ali Farag in the semifinals, had four match balls to clinch his spot in this year’s last four before Pajares surged back to save three of them to make it a tense finish. However, he converted his final opportunity to win 11-9.
“This is one of the coldest court conditions I’ve ever been on, the temperature is dropping as the night went on so it was getting cold on there,” he said.
“He (Pajares) was very attacking and credit to him, when he steps up, the best of three suits him and he has a good physical presence, and he was beating me around the forehand. Credit to him,” Makin said.
Top seed Elias books his last four berth
Top seed Diego Elias booked his place in the semifinals after resisting a comeback from Mohamed Abouelghar. From the previous eight meetings on the PSA Squash Tour, both players have four wins to their name with Elias winning the last four in a row.
The World No.3, who was runner-up to Ali Farag in last year’s final, controlled the majority of the rallies in the first, helping him draw first blood 11-7. Abouelghar, who last got the better of the Peruvian Puma in the final of the Motor City Open back in 2019, levelled the match as Elias struggled to keep the ball out of the tin as the Egyptian pounced on his opponent’s mistakes to win the second 11-7.
Top seed Diego Elias booked his place in the semifinals after resisting a comeback from Mohamed Abouelghar
But Elias got back on top in the third, reducing the error count to regain control and comfortably take the third 11-3 to advance to the last four. “That was a very tough match,” Elias said afterwards.
“Mohamed (Abouelghar) is a great player and has a lot of skills, so you have to be at 100 per cent and pretty sharp. I was happy I could move well today and get the win. It’s great coming back to Zurich, it’s a great event and the players enjoy it. I’m very happy I’m here – I think it’s my third time and I enjoy it every time,” he added.
Crouin overcomes James in a blockbuster battle
Meanwhile, Victor Crouin recovered from 1-0 down to overcome Declan James in a blockbuster quarterfinal battle. Crouin had never got the better of James on the PSA Squash Tour previously, with the Frenchman losing their only previous encounter 3-2 at the Manchester Open in 2020.
James, who caused a big upset in the previous round by taking out Youssef Ibrahim 2-0, fought back from 7-3 down in the first as Crouin missed a chance to open up a crucial five-point gap. Despite seeing one game ball saved, James converted in the tiebreak to go 1-0 up.
After falling behind, Crouin launched a wave of attacks in the opening exchanges of the second to open up another advantage over the Englishman. James roared back once more, though, but Crouin was able to keep his cool and restore parity.
Crouin heaped plenty of pressure on James, forcing the Englishman to cover plenty of ground. Although James was hanging tough in the rallies, Crouin edged the exchanges to close it out 11-7 and book a spot in the final four.
Although Declan James was hanging tough in the rallies, Victor Crouin edged the exchanges to close it out 11-7 and book a spot in the final four of the Grasshopper Cup in Zurich
“I tried to play the best squash I could tonight. Declan (James) definitely made it very tough out there, he’s got such a good squash IQ on there, he was using his strength as well as he could and he was trying to make the game as clean as possible and try and make it difficult to move around,” said Crouin.
“As well as throwing the boast and the drop, he was being aggressive as much as possible and he made it really tough out there. In the second game I had to go close and he would still pick it up. I thought if I made it tough in the third, I thought I could get that one,” he stated.
Results (quarterfinals): 1-Diego Elias (PER) beat 8-Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 2-1 (11-7, 7-11, 11-3); 2- Karim Gawad (EGY) beat Abhay Singh (IND) 2-0 (12-10, 11-9); 3-Victor Crouin (FRA) beat Declan James (ENG) 2-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-7); 4-Joel Makin (WAL) beat Iker Pajares (ESP) 2-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-9).