2026 / News / PSA

Grasshopper

PHOTOS DES BLEUS

Finale

[2] Karim Gawad (EGY) 3-0 [3] Victor Crouin  11-8, 11-4, 11-5 (30m)

Le mot de Tothor

DICODUSPORT: VICTOR UN PEU JUSTE

Demie

[3] Victor Crouin 3-1 [1] Diego Elias (PER)  4-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 (53m)

PSA report

Victor Crouin battled back from 1-0 down to defeat the tournament’s top seed Diego Elias and reach his first Grasshopper Cup final.

Crouin, who’s now claimed back-to-back wins over Elias on the PSA Squash Tour having got the better of him in the final of the Texas Open, triumphed 3-1 against the World No.3 for a maiden title decider in Zurich.

Today’s clash followed a similar pattern to the title showdown in Texas in February, with Elias drawing first blood against the Frenchman. The Peruvian is in full control of the opener, with his strong line hitting and dominating the middle of the court seeing him claim the first 11-4.

A much-improved performance from Crouin in the second followed – volleying the ball more frequently – which helped the Frenchman equalise with a 11-4 success.

The equaliser gave Crouin plenty of confidence going into the third, playing very accurate and disciplined squash while his defensiv work paid dividends to see him go 2-1 up.

Last year’s runner-up Elias saw his discipline slip in the third and fourth games, with conduct strokes going against him for dissent. But Crouin remained steady to seal the victory.

“It’s huge to make it to the Grasshopper Cup final,” he said.

“It was a good match on my hand, there was a lot of variety in my game; using the height, using the drop and I tried to make it tough for him more mentally than physically.

“I was trying to ask more questions, still lost the first game so I need to see how to improve on that.”

Quart de finale

[3] Victor Crouin  2-1 Declan James (ENG)  10-12, 11-7, 11-7 (49m)

PSA Report

In the men’s side of the draw, Victor Crouin is through to the semi finals of the Grasshopper Cup for the first time after he came back from 1-0 down to overcome Declan James 2-1.

Crouin, who reached the quarter finals on his Zurich debut in 2025, has gone one better in 2026 after ending James’s excellent run at this year’s event.

James, who vanquished No.5 seed Youssef Ibrahim in round two, clawed back a 7-3 deficit to win the first 12-10, but a wave of attacks from Crouin, combined with sustained pressure on the Englishman, helped him complete the turnaround, taking the second and third games 11-7, 11-7.

“I tried to play the best squash I could tonight. Declan [James] definitely made it very tough out there – he’s got such a good squash IQ on there, he was using his strength as well as he could and he was trying to make the game as clean as possible and try and make it difficult to move around,” he said.

“As well as throwing the boast and the drop, he was being aggressive as much as possible and he made it really tough out there.

“In the second game I had to go close and he would still pick it up. I thought if I made it tough in the third I thought I could get that one.”

Former World Champion Diego Elias awaits Crouin in the semi finals on Saturday evening, with the tournament’s top seed holding off Mohamed Abouelghar 2-1.

Second Tour (8e)

[2] Karim Gawad (EGY) 2-0 Auguste Dussourd  11-7, 11-8 (29m)
[3] Victor Crouin 2-0 Greg Lobban (SCO) 11-8, 13-11 (31m)

[8] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) 2-1 Melissa Alves  10-12, 11-7, 11-9 (23m)

Premier Tour

Melissa Alves  2-0 Nadien Elhammamy (EGY)  11-3, 11-0 (16m)

Greg Lobban (SCO) 2-0 Melvil Scianimanico  11-4, 12-10 (42m)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 2-1 Baptiste Masotti  3-11, 11-4, 11-6 (19m)
Auguste Dussourd 2-0 Grégoire Marche  11-5, 11-5 (25m)

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