Egyptian champs world number one Ali Farag and world number five Nouran Gohar claimed the 2019 FS Investments US Open Squash Championships titles, defeating fellow Egyptians Nour al-Tayeb and Mohamed ElShorbagy, according to the official website.
Gohar made it to her career’s tenth title and third PSA title, beating Tayeb with scores 3-11, 8-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-7.
Thus, her latest victory will lead her to the world number two spot in the November PSA World Rankings.
Capturing the title from the first PSA Platinum event of the 2019/20 season, the 22-year old is now a back-to-back platinum title winner.
“It was so tough out there,” Gohar recounted, “I felt my legs burning and it was like I was doing court sprints with Nour out there in the first two games. I just tried to hang in there and I didn’t want the crowd to be upset about a bad final match. I was thinking ‘that’s the worst final ever’, but it turns out, and I hope, it was a good one.”
The triumph brought Gohar back on track after her downfall against Tayeb, who won the 2019 JP Morgan China Squash Open of the PSA World Tour Gold on September.
Gohar first boosted her athletic career by lifting her first ever tour title at the Prague Open in December 2013, when she was only 16 years old. She later snatched World Junior Championship’s title in 2015, moving up to the world’s top 10 in the same year.
She was later crowned first in the Hong Kong Open in August 2016, capturing her first World Series title and placing herself amongst the world’s top five. She marked her 2018/2019 season exceptionally by winning the her first crown at the Wimbledon of Squash’s crown, according to her bio on the official PSA World Tour website.
Farag meanwhile was in brilliant form forcing ElShorbagy, who won the JP Morgan China Open and Oracle NetSuite Open in September, to lose 3-0.
The current number one in the world, Farag recorded a 75 percent win ratio after winning 217 out of 288 total matches played and reaching 33 finals, according to the PSA World Tour.
Thriving in his 10-year squash career, Farag is having a tremendous year so far, hitting the world number one spot for the first time after winning the Oracle NetSuite, the Qatar Classic and the Tournament of Champions, reaching six finals during the seven tournaments he participated in this year.
Farag triumphed in the UK’s DPD open and the El Gouna International Squash Open over the past few months.
Knocking out his counterpart, previous number one in the world ElShorbagy, Farag successfully made it to the US open, seizing the prestigious title during the 2017-2018 season, according to PSA World Tour.
Farag launched his career by snatching the prestigious maiden PSA M25 title. The Egyptian champ also lifted three titles out of the four tournaments in which he took part, wrapping up the year with an astonishing victory in the Irish open, one of the world’s most famous squash tournaments.
Farag also managed to conquer global squash icons in 2016, including ElShorbagy and three-time World Champion Nick Matthew, capturing the esteemed PSA M70 title, the PSA World Tour stated.
Photo credit: PSA World Tour
