On a day where most of the seeds sprouted, World No.33 Declan James pulled off an upset win over World No.7 and the tournament’s No.5 seed Youssef Ibrahim to progress to the quarterfinals of the Grasshopper Cup 2026.
James, who’s been as high as 15 previously in the PSA World Rankings, is featuring at the Grasshopper Cup for the first time since 2019, and the Englishman earned his maiden last eight appearance in Zurich.
The 33-year-old, who had never beaten Ibrahim on the PSA Squash Tour, secured his place in the quarterfinals of a Gold-level event by defeating Ibrahim 11-7, 11-9. This is his best run since the semifinals at the London Classic in 2024.
I had to stick to my game plan: James
“He’s a great player, he’s been getting semis and finals of all the major events and he’s one of the best in the world,” he said post-match. “I had to stick to my game plan and I came out and started well in the first and I had a good chat with Joel [Makin] in my corner about how to get better as the first game was good.
“But there was still improvements to be found in the second as he’s always going to come out and respond and be better. I weathered a couple of hard storms in the second midway through,” James said.
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Last year’s runner-up Diego Elias kicked off his 2026 campaign with a 2-0 win against Fares Dessouky. Victor Crouin and Mohamed Abouelghar also notched straight games successes, seeing off Greg Lobban and Juan Vargas, respectively.
Elsewhere, No.6 seed Salma Hany fended off Lucy Turmel to advance to the quarterfinals. Hany, who was a semifinalist last week at the Sportwerk Hamburg Open 2026, won the opener 11-6 before Turmel stormed back with a comprehensive 11-2 triumph in the second.
Turmel, who arrived in Zurich off the back of winning the Copper-level Bermuda Open, stood toe-to-toe with Hany in the decider but it was the Egyptian who held her nerve to prevail 11-8.
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“The ball was a little bit cold in the second and she [Lucy Turmel] had a really good start and she was going for shots all over the court,” she said. “All credit to her and that’s something I’m going to have to adapt to and quickly because it’s the best of three and you don’t have time to risk losing in a game like that. I’m very happy to get through in the end.
“I think until six-all we were point for point and the difference is going to be how I cope in the crucial moments and luckily I was able to get that lead at the end and get the win.”
Sivasangari Subramaniam produced a dominant display against Farida Mohamed to earn a spot in the last eight, Nada Abbas won the all-Egyptian battle with Mariam Metwally and top seed Amina Orfi downed Hollie Naughton.
Results: Men’s round two: 1-Diego Elias (PER) beat Fares Dessouky (EGY) 2-0 (11-5, 11-7); 8-Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) beat Juan Vargas (COL) 2-0 (11-9, 11-8); Declan James (ENG) beat 5-Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 2-0 (11-7, 11-9); 3-Victor Crouin (FRA) beat Greg Lobban (SCO) 2-0 (11-8, 13-11).
Women’s round two: 1-Amina Orfi (EGY) beat Hollie Naughton (CAN) 2-0 (11-6, 11-9); 6-Salma Hany (EGY) beat Lucy Turmel (ENG) 2-1 (11-6, 2-11, 11-8); 7-Nada Abbas (EGY) beat Mariam Metwally (EGY) 2-0 (11-8, 11-9); 3-Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) beat Farida Mohamed (EGY) 2-0 (11-4, 11-5).
