English World No.37 Millie Tomlinson captured her fourth successive
PSA World Tour title after beating Egyptian teenager Zeina Farid
Mickawy in the final of the Harrow Ukrainian Squash Cup 2, PSA W5
tournament held in Kiev.
Tomlinson’s superb form in 2016 has seen her win five of eight PSA
World Tour events, with four of those coming since April, including
victory on the first stage of the Ukrainian Cup, and her fine
displays continued in Kiev as she rattled off three comfortable
victories to reach the final.
Mickawy was appearing in just her fourth PSA World Tour main draw,
but produced a number of sublime performances as she surged to her
maiden Tour final, upsetting top seed Misaki Kobayashi and home
favourite Nadiia Usenko along the way.
Despite there being 178 places between the pair in the World
Rankings, the lengthy gap seemed to mean little as Mickawy pushed
Tomlinson all the way to a tie-break in game one, only to lose
narrowly. However, the 17-year-old Egyptian refused to give in and
some fine shot-making enabled her to draw level after taking the
second, ending Tomlinson’s incredible run of 15 straight 3-0 wins.
Mickawy’s resurgence was short-lived though in the third as a brutal
response from Tomlinson saw her go back ahead after surrendering
just a single point, before a nail-biting fourth game went in the
Englishwoman’s favour on the tie-break once more to allow Tomlinson
to capture the title and extend her unbeaten run to 16 matches.
World No.76 Nadiia Usenko is the sole home player to make it through
to the semi-final stage of the Harrow Ukrainian Squash Cup 2, PSA W5
tournament after she dispatched Switzerland’s Nadia Pfister in
straight games.
Usenko went two games to the good after a strong start to the match,
but was pushed all the way to a tie-break by her opponent in a
gruelling third game.
The 16-year-old Ukrainian held her nerve though and pulled through
with an 11-6, 11-9, 16-14 victory to seal maiden PSA World Tour
semi-final appearance.
Egypt’s Zeina Farid Mickawy will stand between Usenko and a place in
the final after the World No.215 stunned pre-tournament title
favourite Misaki Kobayashi, an opponent ranked 158 places above her,
with a 3-1 win.
Elsewhere, Millie Tomlinson’s attempts to capture a fourth
successive PSA World Tour continued apace as an 11-0 victory in game
one of her quarter-final encounter with Iran’s Ailee Nayeri sent her
on her way to a comfortable 3-0 triumph and she will take on
16-year-old Egyptian Hana Moataz for a place in the showpiece
finale, with Moataz dispatching Marie Stephan.
The final qualifying round of the Harrow Ukrainian Squash Cup 2, PSA
W5 tournament saw 16-year-old Iranian Ailee Nayeri ease through to
her second ever PSA World Tour main draw after beating Anastasia
Bondarenko.
Nayeri was making her first PSA World Tour appearance since May’s
Grand Sport Armenia 1st Challenger 5 and dropped just one point in
the opening game as she powered to the win via an 11-1, 11-4, 11-7
scoreline.
The World No.169 is yet to reach the last eight of a PSA World Tour
event and will look to advance to her maiden quarter-final with a
victory over Greece’s Eliza Kargioti.
Nayeri’s compatriot Arezoosadat Mousavizadeh will join her in the
main draw thanks to a dominant 3-0 win against Yana Kovalska, and
she will line up against Switzerland’s Nadia Pfister in round one.
Germany’s Sharon Sinclair and Egypt’s Salma Alameldin have also
sealed their places in the next stage after wins over Jenny Haley
and Taba Taghavi Rafsanjani, respectively.
Sinclair has a tough fixture with title-favourite Misaki Kobayashi
in store next, while Alameldin will clash with Marie Stephan in the
main draw’s first round.
