HONG KONG — Egyptian duo Nouran Gohar and Mostafa Asal beat their top seeds compatriots Nour el-Sherbini and Ali Farag respectively in four games to claim the 2024 Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open titles.
Gohar, whose 2016 triumph at this event was her first major win on the PSA Squash Tour, came from behind to defeat fellow Egyptian El-Sherbini and climb back up to World No.1.
World No.2 Gohar made a positive start as she found the front corners well to go 6-3 up, but seven unanswered points from El-Sherbini helped the ‘Warrior Princess’ take a 1-0 lead.
Losing the first game fired Gohar up as she started to move well and inject pace into the front corners, hitting winners all across the court to restore parity.
Traffic issues throughout the third disrupted the tempo, but Gohar was still finding her targets well to edge it 11-9 before taking the fourth by the same scoreline to claim the title and return to World No.1.
“I’m still trying to grasp it!” Gohar said according to psasquashtour.com.
“There’s a lot of emotions and last time I won it [the Hong Kong Open] it was my first Platinum event to win and it was a week after winning my World Junior Championships as well.
“To win it again after eight years is emotional for me right now and to get back to World No.1 as well – I’ve worked so hard for it – me and my team – and to have my dad here means the world to me.
“Last time I won it was in front of my mum and this time it’s in front of my dad so it means a lot to me. It’s always special here in Hong Kong and to play in front of an amazing crowd.”
In the men’s final, No.2 seed Asal beat out World No.1 Farag to win in a dramatic conclusion to the Platinum-level event.
The ‘Raging Bull’ came out firing in game one, looking for the nick on the forehand side as went on the attack, pushing up on the T and being dominant as he pushed to a quick-fire 11-5 first game.
As the ball died off in the second game, the rallies got shorter which seemed to favour Farag, as the World No.1 found his targets far better than he did in the first, and managing to put Asal on the back foot to win 11-4 and level the match at 1-1.
The third game saw a far more even affair as the Egyptian compatriots fought for each point with neither earning a clear advantage, but traffic issues began emerging which saw both players lose their two reviews.
Despite some excellent finishing from both players, it was Asal that came out on top, edging the game 11-8, before pushing on in game four to win 11-5 and claim his second Hong Kong Open title, and his third major title of the season.
“It’s a good match against Farag,” said Asal after the match. “Farag is an unbelievable player. He’s a legend of Egyptian squash. My mentality was today; just sharing a court is something to add to my career.
“I’m really happy with my performance and I’m looking forward to the [World] Teams!”
When asked after the match about the difference in his physical condition between the US Open in October and now, Asal admitted: “I was struggling. I didn’t hit a single ball after the US Open until about a month. I stopped for a month. No squash at all.
“My finger was a really serious problem. I was going to do a surgery, but thankfully at the last minute I didn’t do it.
Mostafa Asal collected his second HK title in three years as he beat top sed Ali Farag with an impressive four game win.
Second seed Asal took charge from the opening of the match, controlling the play and taking the lead 11-5. Farag struck back to take the second with some ease and it seemed that the match was well and truly on.
Farag thought so too – in his words at the presentation he said “I thought I was back in it after taking the second, but Mostafa just played so well, unbelievably good squash in those last two games and there was just nothing I could do about it.”
For Farag it’s a fourth disappointment in a HK final, for Asal it’s a third major title of the season – beating Farag in all three finals.
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