[1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-2 [2] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 6-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4 (64m)
[3] Mostafa Asal (Egy) 3-1 [1] Ali Farag (Egy) 11-7, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7 (55m)
Nour El Sherbini and Mostafa Asal both made it two major titles in a row as they beat Nouran Gohar and Ali Farag in repeats of the Egyptian Open finals earlier this month.
The first match of the evening saw El Sherbini fight back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to claim victory over fierce rival Gohar in a see-saw five-game encounter.
“Nouran always makes it challenging. She always tries to change things and improve and she takes the edge for a while. Then I try to figure it out and take the edge for a while, so we keep teasing each other. I think that’s why it’s always like this. It’s one of the best matches, and, hopefully, it’s always going to be like this.”
In the men’s final Asal claimed victory over defending champion Farag in four games.
“I was almost not going to play the match,” Asal admitted. “My hand was just unbelievably bruised. I came here this afternoon, and I couldn’t hit the ball at all. I want to thank my team, including James Willstrop – they just pushed me all the way. Having someone in your corner, a former World #1, who’s dealt with all of these things before, is amazing.”
Day SIX : Semi-Finals
Top seed and defending champion Ali Farag booked his spot in the Paris Squash final after conquering World Champion Diego Elias in an epic 94-minute encounter at the Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione. Farag will play third seed Mostafa Asal in the final after he came from two games down to beat Paul Coll, while Egyptian duo Nour El Sherbini and Nouran Gohar will renew their rivalry in the women’s event after defeating Rowan Elaraby and Hania El Hammamy.
Day FIVE : Hammamy survives as semi-finalists are settled
Hania El Hammamy survived a major scare as she fought back from 2-1 down to defeat Egyptian teenage contender Fayrouz Aboelkheir and advance to the Paris Squash 2024 semi-finals. The other winner from the women’s draw was current World Champion Gohar, who fought off an electrifying start from America’s Amanda Sobhy to progress in four games.
Meanwhile, in the men’s event Mostafa Asal and Paul Coll both secured impressive wins to set up a blockbuster semi-final clash in the French capital. Coll, the second seed, was tested all the way through his 62-minute duel with former World Champion Momen, having to hold off a barrage of attacks from ‘The Viper’ on his way to an 11-8, 10-12, 11-2, 11-8 victory.
Third seed Asal was the final player to advance to the semi-finals after seeing off the dangerous Mazen Hesham in three games. ‘The Raging Bull’, who won the season-opening CIB Egyptian Open just over a fortnight ago, continued his unbeaten start to the season with a commanding 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 win.
Day FOUR : Rowan downs Nele as quarter-finals begin
Eighth seed Rowan Elaraby and fourth seed Diego Elias claimed impressive wins on day four of Paris Squash 2024, defeating Nele Gilis and Karim Abdel Gawad to progress to the semi-finals of the Platinum-level event.
After her surprise straight-game win over fourth seed Rowan said : “It’s never going to be easy to win against Nele, even if you were to have ten match balls. She never gives cheap points and I had to stick to my game plan to get the win.”
Elaraby will face defending champion Nour El Sherbini in the semi-finals after the top seed held off a valiant comeback from fifth seed Olivia Weaver to win in four games.
World Champion Elias was pleased with his performance : “It was a really tough match today against Karim. He played really well in the last round, so I knew it was going to be tough and it was. He made me run a lot, but I’m happy with what I did, I was moving well and I’m happy with that performance.”
Elias’ opponent in the semi-finals will be top seed Ali Farag, after the Egyptian defending champion battled past long-time rival Mohamed ElShorbagy in four games, his fourth straight victory over ElShorbagy.
Day THREE : Fayrouz stuns Gina as quarter-finalists are settled
Eight more Round Two matches on the glass court in Cirque D’Hiver, with a major upset as Egyptian teenager Fayrouz Aboelkheir ousted fifth seed Gina Kennedy in five games. Fayrouz took both opening games in extra points, and had two match balls in the third only to see Gina fight back to level – also taking two games in extra points! Fayrouz started the decider the better, moving to 10-5 and clinching the match 11-6.
Aboelkheir will play compatriot Hania El Hammamy in the quarter-finals after the third seed survived a scare from Jasmine Hutton to progress in four games. After losing the first games the Egyptian saw six match balls slip through her grasp in a see-saw fourth game but managed to eventually clinch victory at the seventh time of asking.
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, there were wins for current World Champion Nouran Gohar and USA’s Amanda Sobhy, who will now square off against one another for a spot in the semi-finals.
In the men’s event, all four seeded players progressed without fail. Paul Coll and Tarek Momen set up a quarter-final meeting after defeating Dimitri Steinmann and Baptiste Masotti in straight games. Meanwhile CIB Egyptian Open champion Mostafa Asal and fifth seed Mazen Hesham also triumphed in straight games.
Day TWO : Top half quarter-finalists settled in Paris
Day Two saw action centred on the Glass Court in Cirque D’Hiver with eight top half round two matches, which all went to seeding. Top seeds Nour El Sherbini and Ali Farag led the way, with only the all-Egyptian matchup between Rowan Elaraby and Salma Hany going the full distance.
Day ONE : Marche and Masotti carry home hopes
A busy opening day in Paris featured 32 first round matches across three venues. Home success was limited to Greg Marche and Baptiste Masotti in the men’s draw, both with thrilling five-game wins. Marche went 2-0 up against Marwan ElShorbagy before stopping the English #2’s comeback in the fifth. Masotti, in the final match of the day, went two games down to Qatar’s Abdulla Al Tamimi before staging a comeback which saw him win 12-10 in the decider!
French legend Camille Serme, having won the wildcard competition, couldn’t turn back the years against top seed Nour El Sherbini in the women’s draw, where the only seeding upset saw Egypt’s Farida Mohamed edge past seventh seed Tinne Gilis in five games.
Day Two will see the top half of Round Two, all on the Glass Court.
