Following the conclusion of the 2019-2020 CIB PSA Women’s World Championship last week, PSA World Tour focus now shifts to Qatar for the 2019-2020 PSA Men’s World Championship, November 8-15, at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha.
The $355,000 draw stages a full field of sixty-four players with six rounds of match play. The draw went through a premature shake up this week in unfortunate circumstances, when world No. 1 and defending champion Ali Farag was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a family emergency.
As a result, Egypt’s world No. 2 Mohamed ElShorbagy and world No. 2 Tarek Momen oppose each other in the draw as the top two seeds. After winning the CIB Egyptian Open by the Pyramids last week, 2016 world champion Karim Abdel Gawad slots into the draw as the three seed with a potential semifinal against Momen. New Zealand’s Paul Coll is the highest-seeded non-Egyptian as the four seed, and is predicted to Face ElShorbagy in the semifinals.
Team USA’s Todd Harrity is the sole American representative in the draw in what will be his sixth PSA World Championship appearance. The world No. 49 will take on Hong Kong’s Leo Au in the first round at 5pm local time, 9am EST, on Court 3. Au, world No. 30, won their only previous PSA encounter in four games at the 2016 Motor City Open. Harrity or Au could then face Egypt’s seven seed Mohamed Abouelghar in the second round.
The first round will be contested on four courts including the all glass show court and three traditional side courts. All matches from the second round onward will take place on the all glass court.
Follow live coverage from Qatar on SquashTV and PSA World Tour’s Facebook Live from Friday, November 8, at noon local time, 4am EST. For more tournament coverage visit psaworldtour.com and qatarsquash.org.
