LONDON – Egyptian duo Nour el-Tayeb and Ali Farag have won the Manchester Squash Open titles at following respective wins over Nele Gilis of Belgium and Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt.
El Tayeb, who first won the tournament back in 2020, bagged her second title of the season after she opened the campaign with the CIB Zed Squash Open crown.
The Egyptian, who returned to court during the World Championships following a spell on the sidelines due to injury, made a swift start to the opening game with a 7-2 lead.
However Gilis responded by getting to within a point of El-Tayeb, whose crisp hitting helped her clinch the first game.
El-Tayeb doubled her advantage by winning the second, but Gilis fought back in the third as she began to find her rhythm.
The Belgian had five game balls, which she converted at the first attempt, and the hand went up for the new ball.
The fresh ball looked to have worked in Gilis’ favour as she had a 7-6 lead, but El-Tayeb’s experience shone through as she was able to pull away and secure her second Manchester Open crown.
“This was a tough match, Nele [Gilis] played so well. I’ve played her three or four times over the last year and a half and I can see her improvements every time,” El-Tayeb said afterwards on court.
“Even though I can see her getting tired, I couldn’t close it out because even though she’s tired she keeps trying every point and keeps changing her game every few points.
“I’m glad I hung in there and trusted my ability and trusted myself, and luckily I managed to win this one as it was getting very close! I think it was the longest match of the week for me, but I’m glad,” El-Tayeb added.
“I was trying to focus on what I wanted to do. The game plan was tough against her – I can see her getting tired and I was tired, but I had to trust myself and I know what I’m doing as I’ve been doing it for a while.
“I’m confident in what I do, I’ve changed my coaching over the last four or five months and I’ve been taught how to be confident at every point and to give myself credit even on the points I lose.
“In a lot of moments when I felt like I was losing points, I was trusting myself and trusting that I was doing everything I can and it came.”
Meanwhile, reigning World Champion Farag came from behind to clinch his third title in succession after beating Abdel Gawad to lift the Manchester Open for the first time.
In-form Farag came into the Manchester Open having scooped the British Open in Birmingham and secured his fourth World title last week, and the Egyptian made it a hat-trick of successes as he saw off Gawad 3-1.
It was a rematch of the World Championships decider in Chicago, where Farag defeated Gawad 3-0, as the current World Champion followed his wife Nour el-Tayeb in winning the Manchester Open.
It’s the second time Farag and El-Tayeb have tasted trophy success at the same event – with the pair winning the 2017 US Open.
Gawad came out of the blocks in the opening game with a 9-4 lead, which was clawed back by Farag who sent the game into a tiebreak. Two errors from Farag put Gawad one game up.
Another early lead from Gawad in the second was gone again when Farag pulled himself back to eight-all having trailed 5-0. Another tiebreak was this time converted by Farag to level the match.
Farag’s red hot form was on show when he nudged ahead for the first time in the match with a comfortable 11-2 victory in the third, as Gawad requested physio treatment at the end of the game.
And Farag closed out the match as he triumphed 11-5 in the fourth, capping an excellent couple of months for the four-time World Champion with his third trophy in a row.
Afterwards, Farag said: “I hate losing! That is what drives me to keep going. In the first, I didn’t start off too badly but Karim [Abdel Gawad] was really sharp.
“It was very similar to the first game in the World Champs – he was 9-4 up and I came back to 10-9 and then he came back to 10-all.
“This time he ended up winning it and I thought I’d put a bit of work into his legs, but at the beginning of the second it was so loose from my end and with Karim you just can’t afford to do it,” Farag added.
“He gave me some very lucky tins, he could have run away with the game, but I hung in there and once I got there, I think I had the upper edge and I feel better physically.
“I’m lucky that I was only away for four months as he’s been away for 10 months. It’s all on your body and all in your head and I’m so glad I have Nour [El-Tayeb] by my side and having Farida [his daughter] here as well helps to get your mind off things and you don’t think about the matches as much or how tired you are – you just keep pushing. I’m extremely proud and very grateful.”
