SINGAPORE — Egyptian duo Amina Orfi and Ali Farag are the Singapore Squash Open champions after beating women’s World No.3 Hania el-Hammamy and men’s World Champion Diego Elias, respectively, on a dramatic finals.
The 17-year-old Orfi has become the youngest player in history to win a Gold-level event after the No.5 seed battled past top seed Hania el-Hammamy, winning 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-1, 11-9 after 96 absorbing minutes.
Orfi replaces current World No.1 Nour el-Sherbini as the youngest player to win a Gold event when she won the Texas Open in 2014 at the age of 18.
It’s Orfi’s sixth PSA Squash Tour title and she will now aim to win a maiden Platinum title at the Milwaukee Hong Kong Squash Open between December 2-8.
“This is my biggest title and my biggest win so far, I’m very happy with how I played,” Orfi said according to psasquashtour.
“The bounces were on my side and she hit a lot of unforced errors. That bought me the confidence I needed.
“I didn’t know when the next time that I would reach a Gold final would be, so I took it step by step, and I was motivated by Siva’s [Sivasangari Subramaniam] win in London this year. I told myself I could do the same,” the Egyptian teenager noted.
Orfi was appearing in the biggest final of her career and was up against an opponent she had lost to in both of their previous encounters on the PSA Squash Tour. However, the reigning World Junior Champion put in a battling performance as she prevailed in five games, winning 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-1, 11-9. Orfi becomes the youngest player ever to win a PSA Gold event.
El Hammamy cut a composed figure in the opening game as she hit her targets and resisted a strong start from Orfi to go a game ahead. The second game was a feisty encounter though, with Orfi receiving a conduct stroke for her movement and El Hammamy being given a conduct warning for descent.
Farag makes it two in a row
World No.1 Ali Farag is the men’s Singapore Squash Open champion for a second year running after he came back from two games down to beat World Champion Diego Elias.
The Egypt’s star overcome Peru’s Elias, winning 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-4 in 70 minutes. “I’m very happy to get away with the win,” said Farag afterwards.
For the first two games it was Elias – who had overturned a 2-0 deficit in his semi-final match with Paul Coll – who dictated the tempo of the match and slotted a range of winners to outclass the world’s best male player.
“I was a little lucky because Diego didn’t have much in the tank from, he was absolutely cruising in the first two games, but I was lucky he got a bit tired at the end,” Farag said.
“I was telling him after the match that I’m pretty sick of him, I’ve played him five times this season and all of them have been really tough.
“I also want to congratulate the women. Amina is doing incredibly at the age of 17. Hania is a dear friend and a great person before being a great player.
“I know she will come back stronger. Both of them are making Egyptian squash and women’s squash very proud.”
For the first game and a half it was Elias – who had overturned a 2-0 deficit in his semi-final match with Paul Coll – who dictated the tempo of the match and slotted a range of winners to outclass the world’s best male player.
Farag finally managed to put some work into the Peruvian’s legs at the back end of the second game, and while he went on to lose it, that work proved crucial in the next three games.
The Egyptian began to weave his web as he drew Elias into his game plan. The third game went to Farag by an 11-8 scoreline and the fourth was a procession as he dropped just one point en route to drawing level.
Farag made the first two rallies of the fifth game physical, with Elias requesting an injury break so he could receive treatment from the physio on his hip. From there, Farag pulled away as Elias continued to suffer with his movement, closing out a 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-4 victory.
