KARACHI: Egyptians Mohamad Zakaria and Aly Abouy Eleinen upset the applecart, romping to stunning victories over former world champions to set up a title showdown at the Karachi Open on Saturday.

Both advanced to their maiden finals at a Gold-level tournament on the PSA Squash Tour with fifth seed Zakaria, the two-time world junior champion, delivering a quick 11-3, 11-9, 11-4 takedown of 2016 world champion and top-seeded compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad while Eleinen romped past compatriot Mohamed El Shorbagy, the 2017 world champion who was seeded fourth 11-4, 11-8, 11-6.

The 18-year-old Zakaria had lost all his three previous meetings with Gawad and said he was in “disbelief” after his 52-minute victory over the world number four.

“It’s so difficult to play against Karim,” he said.

“He has so many gears to shift to. I’m still a bit in disbelief at how well my plan turned out.

“I lost to Gawad the last three times I played him. I watched back some of those matches today and something clicked. I knew what I was going to do and I’m so happy with how it turned out.”

Eleinen had similar emotions after overcoming ElShorbagy in 31 minutes, two days after he had downed his rival’s brother Marwan El Shorbagy in the quarter-finals.

“Mohamed is a legend of the game,” said Eleinen. “He’s from Alexandria, I’m from Alexandria, so of course I grew up watching him the whole time. I’ve looked up to him so much — I still look up to him so much.

“What he has done for the game will be talked about for years and years. I wanted to show him so much respect today by giving it my everything and playing my absolute best, and I’m glad to get through.”

Zakaria’s accuracy saw him make a fast start as he raced to an 8-2 lead on his way to taking the first game.

The second game was a tighter affair and at 9-9, two consecutive no-let and yes-let decisions were upgraded to strokes upon review, allowing Zakaria to take a 2-0 lead.

It was a blow to Gawad’s hopes and Zakaria then killed off the tie with some immaculate line hitting down the backhand wall.

Eleinen weathered an early storm from ElShorbagy to take the first game before holding off a rally from his opponent when leading 8-7 in the second game.

The 26-year-old then killed off ElShorbagy’s hopes of a comeback by racing away to a 10-3 lead in the third.

Seedings stayed true on the women’s side with the top two winning their semi-finals.

Top seed Amina Orfi of Egypt eased past an under-the-weather Nada Abbas 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 while second seed Sivasangari Subramaniam of Malaysia was made to work by her compatriot Aifa Azman before she prevailed 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2026