WASHINGTON — Women’s World Champion Nouran Gohar of Egypt and Men’s World No.1 Ali Farag of Egypt have won the Xbox PSA World Tour Finals after contrasting matches with Nour el-Sherbini and Mostafa Asal, respectively, at Bellevue’s Boys and Girls Club Hidden Valley Field House.
Defending champion Gohar continued her sensational form as she overcame El-Sherbini 7-11, 11-2, 11-9, 11-10 to win her third Xbox PSA World Tour Finals trophy and her fifth successive PSA title.
Gohar’s incredible form has seen her win 25 matches in a row, while she has now won the Black Ball Open, El-Gouna International, PSA World Championships, British Open and Xbox PSA World Tour Finals titles in succession, beating El-Sherbini in the final of the last four of those events.
The 26-year-old has now become the first woman to win the Xbox PSA World Tour Finals on three occasions, while it is the 28th PSA title of her career.
“At 9-7 [in the fourth] I didn’t want that match to end because I was really enjoying myself on court today,” said Gohar.
“The crowd made it extra spicy out there. Any squash player can relate to this, when they’re hitting their marks, they’re feeling good and they have an amazing crowd, that’s all you want.
“Thanks so much to Haitham [Effat, Gohar’s coach]. He made a huge difference, especially when I was 1-0 down and Nour was playing really well. I love coming back to Seattle; it’s one of my favourite cities.
“It really helps to feel like you’re home. Shabana [Khan, tournament promoter] and the team have done an amazing job, and it’s the cherry on top for an amazing season. It’s my fifth title in a row, and I couldn’t have dreamt of this, to be honest.”
Farag’s match against Asal was cut short after the latter retired injured mid-way through the second game, ending his run of three straight Xbox PSA World Tour Finals triumphs.
Asal initially sustained the injury in his Group A clash with Farag on day two of the tournament as he lunged for a ball, and despite battling through to reach the final, he was never 100 per cent physically.
It meant Farag was able to avenge his British Open final defeat to the World No.2 a fortnight ago to lift the eighth title of what has been a superb season for the 32-year-old from Cairo, who has now lifted 41 PSA titles in his career.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better season,” said Farag according to .psaworldtour.com.
“You go through periods of demotivation and tough personal stuff, but I’ve had an incredible year and I have an incredible family, Nour [El Tayeb, Farag’s wife] and Farida [Farag’s daughter], touring the world with me.
“I’m doing the thing I love the most, touring the world and meeting incredible people. I’ve met some incredible promoters like Shabana and YSK.
“I’ve been coming back here every year for the past eight or nine years and it’s home to me now. The family takes such good care of us and we couldn’t be more grateful for them. I really look forward to coming back next year.”
The Xbox PSA World Tour Finals 2023-24 brings the curtain down on the PSA World Tour campaign, with the 2024-25 PSA World Tour season set to begin in August.
Gohar was dialled in, in the second game and quickly drew level as she raised her accuracy and went through the gears, dropping just two points. That resulted in a big momentum shift as Gohar stormed away at the outset of the third game to take a 10-7 lead.
El Sherbini same back to within a point, but Gohar rattled off a trademark backhand straight kill to close out the third game.
Both players saved some of their best squash for the fourth game, with the match going to a nail-biting sudden-death decider at 10-10.
El Sherbini couldn’t match her opponent’s accuracy as she gave up a stroke to hand Gohar her third Xbox PSA World Tour Finals trophy.
Elsewhere, 16-year-old Egyptian Barb Sameh added her name to the history books by winning the Gibraltar Squash Open, becoming the latest to join an illustrious list of players to claim glory in their maiden Challenger Tour event.
The Cairo-based teenager took current World No.86 Lauren Baltayan to a fifth-game tiebreak at the British Junior Open in January, but had not played on the Challenger Tour before this week.
She has, however, reached the final of all four Satelite events she’d played so far in 2024, and knocked out a trio of fellow rising stars to reach this final in Gibraltar, beating Hana Ismail, Amelie Haworth and Kara Lincou.
Standing in her way on finals day was Ireland’s No.8 seed Breanne Flynn, who recently gave up her day job to play squash full-time.
Flynn herself had knocked out Spanish junior champion Ona Blasco and No.2 seed Katerina Tycova to make the final, but was outclassed by Sameh on the day.
Starting as she meant to go on, Sameh glued a backhand tight to the left-hand wall to win the match’s opening point, and was one game in front inside 10 minutes, taking the first 11-5.
From there, she barely looked back, losing only 10 points across the next two games, slamming a backhand winner past her opponent on match ball.
Victory for Sameh was followed later in the day by an Egyptian win in the men’s final, as top seed Moustafa Elsirty saw off the threat of unseeded Italian Yuri Farneti, though not without having to earn it.
Former World No.22 Elsirty had not dropped a game in reaching this final, and was facing an opponent ranked 270 in the world, albeit due to the fact he had not played much on Tour this season.
Despite the gap in rankings, Farneti took the game to Elsirty and might have had the Egyptian worried after splitting the first two games, both going to a tiebreak.
Elsirty then edged game three 11-9 but the Italian kept battling, even threatening to force a decider at 6-3 up in the fourth.
But the Egyptian upped his game when it mattered, winning seven of the next eight points to bring up three match balls, firing an audacious backhand into the nick to clinch victory in style.
