The 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships began with a bang as the world’s top junior talents started their campaigns to be crowned world champion at Houston Squash Club, Texas, USA.

With a staggering 146 matches taking place across 13 courts at Houston Squash Club – including two spectacular show courts – fans were treated to a bounty of exciting action, with rounds one and two of the men’s and women’s events taking place.

In the shock of the day, unseeded Canadian Youssef Sarhan took down Colombian [5/8] seed Jose Santamaria 3-1. Sarhan, who beat Khaled Walead Al Fouzain of Kuwait 3-0 in the morning session, clinched two bruising opening games with Santamaria 15-13, 17-15. The Colombian gained a foothold in the match with an 11-5 win in game three, but could not hold off the resurgent Sarhan in game four, with the Canadian clinching it 11-9 to set up a third round clash with USA’s Nathan Rosenzweig, who cruised past Chinese Taipei’s Pan Hong-Rui in round two after a round one bye.

A number of the clashes went the distance today, with six going to five games. Picks of the bunch included Hong Kong, China’s Valerie Huang’s surprise round one win over Canadian 17/32 seed Maria Min, Wales’ Ioan Sharpe’s epic 19-17, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4 victory over New Zealand’s Freddie Jameson and Canada’s Ocean Ma’s comeback from 0-2 down to beat England’s Mariam Eissa.

For the hosts, it was a largely successful day, with all six of their players progressing in the men’s draw and all but one making it through in the women’s.

The hosts’ sole casualty on the opening day was Alexandra Jaffe, who crashed out to defending women’s champion Amina Orfi, with the Egyptian top seed – who is aiming to be the first woman to win a hat-trick of World Junior Championship titles – recording a comfortable 3-0 win.

Defending men’s champion Hamza Khan also progressed in three games, though the Pakistani was made to work for all three by England’s Dylan Roberts, with No.2 seed Khan recording a 12-10, 13-11, 11-7 win to progress.

Men’s top seed Mohamad Zakaria, who lost out to Khan in last year’s final, looked in top form as he stormed past Kuwait’s Abdullah Ali in just 18 minutes to make his mark on the championships early.

Round three of the 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championship takes place tomorrow, 13 July, from 09:00 (GMT-5). Head to WORLDSQUASH.TV to watch all the action live and free.

Click here to view all the results from day one of the WSF World Junior Squash Championships. View the draw for the third round of the women’s event here and the men’s event here.

The 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships are taking place at Houston Squash Club, Texas, from 12-23 July. Find all the key information here.

Keep up with all the action at wsfworldjuniors.com.

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