Squash in the Land : It’s Satomi & Marwan

Satomi Watanabe and Marwan Elshorbagy  won the Squash in the Land 2025 titles, recording convincing wins over Amanda Sobhy and Tarek Momen on finals day in Cleveland.

Watanabe ousts Orfi in five game thriller as Momen beats top seed ElShorbagy in Cleveland …

Satomi Watanabe beat Amina Orfi in an epic five-game encounter on semi-finals day at Squash in the Land, setting up a final showdown with home favourite Amanda Sobhy, while Marwan Elshorbagy and Tarek Momen will contest the men’s final.

Orfi came into her contest with Watanabe on a 10-match winning streak having won her two most recent events, but she did lose to Watanabe in their only previous Tour meeting at last year’s Silicon Valley Open. That match ended 11-9 in the fi8fth, and this encounter was equally close, Watanabe ultimately winning 12-10 in the fifth.

“It definitely felt harder to play against her today,” Watanabe said. “She was bringing in more different tactics, but I’m really pleased with how I controlled, not the shot, but myself, trying to stay calm, knowing where to put the ball instead of trying to think ‘Oh I need this point, I need this point’, so yeah, I’m really pleased.”

Watanabe will play home favourite Amanda Sobhy, who knocked out second seed Rowan Elaraby in a five-game duel of her own later in the day.

In the men’s draw, Momen and the younger Elshorbagy brother will compete for the title after wins over Mohamed Elshorbagy and Karim Abdel Gawad. Both matches followed relatively similar patterns with Momen and Elshorbagy both losing the opening game, but both turning things around from there to win in four.

Day Four : Five game battles on second day of QF action in Cleveland

Egyptian duo Karim Abdel Gawad and Rowan Elaraby both battled back from the brink of defeat to reach the Squash in Land semi-finals on the second day of quarter-final action in Cleveland.

Second seed Elaraby opened the day’s play against Wales’ Tesni Murphy, who fought back after losing a tight first game to take a 2-1 lead. Elaraby eased through the fourth to level, but had to save a match ball before taking the decider 12-10.

“Obviously I’m really pleased to get through this match,” Elaraby said. “It was a really really tough match. Tesni is always a tricky opponent and I knew I had to give it my all to come out on the winning side. I don’t think I played good squash or executed my plan really well today, but I’m really glad I fought untill the end and managed to get through.”

That was followed by an equally close contest between Gawad and the unseeded George Parker, which saw the Egyptian overturn a 0-2, 6-9 deficit to progress.

“I didn’t want to lose that way, in three,” Gawad said. “George was playing amazing squash, but at the same time, I haven’t had my best season so far this season so I wanted to play at least without any pressure, play my squash, move like normal. It was hard, for sure, after being 2-0 down, to play without pressure, but I just managed to squeeze the ball to the back. The third game made a huge difference for sure, it gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the match.”

There was another five-game duel later in the day as Marwan Elshorbagy came out on top of a 61-minute battle with his good friend Abdulla Al-Tamimi in the final match of the day.

The day’s other contest saw Amanda Sobhy put in a dominant performance to beat Nada Abbas 3-0 inside half an hour.

Day THREE : Satomi downs top seed as Momen survives scare

Satomi Watanabe upset top seed Gina Kennedy to reach the Squash in the Land 2025 semi-finals, while in the men’s event Tarek Momen held off a stirring fightback from rising star Jonah Bryant.

Despite the two players being separated by just six spots in the world rankings, Watanabe had never even taken a game off Kennedy in their three previous Tour meetings, but she ended that streak  here, a straight games win in three close games and 35 minutes.

“All three matches I played before, I think I nearly got a game, but I couldn’t really close it,” she said after victory, so I was just telling myself today – and with the scoreline as well, it was really close – well, this is the rally you’re going to play for an hour, this is the point you have to play really long.”

In the semis she’ll meet world junior champion Amina Orfi, who won her all-Egyptian matchup with Farida Mohamed in four games.

The men’s matches saw an epic five-game duel between Bryant and Momen, which saw the 19-year-old push both the Egyptian – and his own body – to the limits as he recovered from a two game deficit only to succumb in the decider.

“I can’t believe what he was doing, coming back the way he did after those two tough matches,” said Moment afterwards. “I think this is the hardest match I’ve played physically in a long time. I either lose quicker than this or win quicker than this but I haven’t played for this long in a while.

Earlier in the day Mohamed Elshorbagy impressed in a 3-0 win over Youssef Ibrahim to reach the semi-finals.

Round Two : Bryant downs defending champ as Sobhy carries home hopes

Amanda Sobhy claimed her 300th PSA Tour win with a 3-0 victory over Emily Whitlock on the traditional courts at the Cleveland Raquets Club to keep hopes of a home victory alive.

There was another stunning win for Jonah Bryant on the all-glass court at Urban Squash Cleveland earlier in the day. 19-year-old Bryant had knocked out last year’s runner-up Bernat Jaume in a five-game thriller in round one, and he went one better 24 hours later by beating defending champion Leonel Cardenas by the same 3-2 scoreline.

That was one of four matches to finish 3-2 in the men’s draw, alongside a tense win for Abdulla Al-Tamimi over Yahya Elnawasany, and comeback wins for Mohamed Elshorbagy and Youssef Ibrahim over Nick Wall and Nathan Lake respectively.

Elsewhere in the women’s event, both Farida Mohamed and Satomi Watanabe celebrated their birthday with wins as all eight seeds progressed.

Round One : Bryant and Heikal in five game upsets

Jonah Bryant and Nour Heikal both kicked off the New Year with thrilling five-game wins, as action got underway at Squash in the Land, the first PSA Squash Tour event of 2025.

The first two rounds of this tournament are taking place across three separate venues in Cleveland, Ohio, where temperatures were well below freezing as snow fell across the city, and it was on the all-glass court at Urban Squash Cleveland where the first five-game encounter took place.

19-year-old Bryant enjoyed a sensational year in 2024, climbing inside the top 50 of the world, but faced a tricky test to open this calendar year in the form of Spain’s Bernat Jaume. From 5-3 down in the decider he proceeded to reel off eight points in a row to book his spot in round two, setting up a clash with defending champion Leonel Cardenas.

A few miles away at the Cleveland Skating Club, there was an even more dramatic encounter between Egyptian duo Heikal and Malak Khafagy. Khafagy is ranked 24 places above her fellow Alexandrian at No.28 in the world, but was soon staring down the barrel of defeat after losing the opening two games inside 15 minutes, before Heikal  squandered leads of 9-6 and then 8-6 to suddenly find herself in a decider. Khagafy had a match ball at 11-10 but ity was Heikal who closed out the win.

Elsewhere, there were 3-1 wins from behind for George Parker, Salma Eltayeb and Emily Whitlock, while Nick Wall got the better of wildcard and former World No.1 James Willstrop 3-0 in an all-English matchup.