Egyptian qualifier Zeina Farid Mickawy claimed her maiden PSA World Tour
title after recovering from a game down to beat Belgian number seven
seed Tinne Gilis in the final of the Harrow Ukrainian Squash Cup 3, PSA
W5 tournament held in Kiev - the day before her 18th birthday.
World No.155 Mickawy was appearing in her second PSA World Tour final
after reaching the same stage on the previous Ukrainian Cup tournament
back in July, while Gilis, the younger sister of World No.44 Nele, was
making her final debut.
Mickawy had been impressive in the build up to final, with a memorable
victory over pre-tournament title favourite Milou van der Heijden in the
last eight, while Gilis had dispatched second seed Sina Wall in the
quarter-final, before staging a superb comeback from two games down to
beat Egypt’s Menna Nasser in the last four.
The World No.100 continued where she left off against Nasser to go a
game up against Mickawy, but the momentum soon shifted as the teenager
fought her way back into contention to take the next two games without
reply, with the third game going to a tie-break.
Mickawy then kept up the assault in the fourth and final game to record
a 9-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-5 victory to ensure that she celebrated her
birthday in style.
