Paul Coll is through to the semifinals of the 2025 NZ Squash Open following a 3-0 victory over France’s Sébastien Bonmalais at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch.
World No.4 Coll has never dropped a game to Bonmalais on the PSA Squash Tour, and continued that record taking the first game 11-8.
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Coll continued to dominate the court in the second, profiting from his short game as Bonmalais struggled to get in front of him.
Having won the second 11-6, Coll faced a resurgent Bonmalais in the third who pushed the home favourite all the way to the wire and had three game balls.
However the Frenchman wasn’t able to convert, with Coll fighting back and only taking his chance to seal the match 12-10 in the third set.
“I’m very happy with that,” said Coll.“It was a high paced game. Seb’s extremely quick across the court and on the volley. And in the third game the ball dropped off and it was bloody hard to get it past him, so I'm very happy with how I dug in and closed it out.”
Coll will take on France’s Baptiste Masotti in his semifinal.
Earlier in the day women’s top seed and World No.5 Nele Gilis was knocked out of the competition in a shock defeat to Egypt’s Salma Hany.
Gilis took the first two games before Hany inched ahead in the third, winning 11-9. Hany then found her rhythm, forcing a number of errors from the Belgian to level the game score at 2-all.
The final game saw Hany reach match ball with a narrow 10-9 lead. In a brilliant final rally, the Egyptian sent Gilis all over the court before sending a perfect drive beyond her opponent’s dive to seal the upset win.