8. Farida Mohamed v Joelle King – CIB Black Ball Open Round Two
Farida Mohamed 3-2 [6] Joelle King (Nzl) 5-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (49m)
After getting the better of Scottish No.1 Lisa Aitken in the first round, Farida Mohamed faced New Zealand’s World No.6 Joelle King in the last 32 of the CIB Black Ball Women’s Squash Open Platinum event.
The pair had never met on the PSA World Tour before, but the Kiwi asserted her class in the first couple of games, and it looked like she would take a resounding victory to reach the third round.
However, buoyed on by the home crowd, Mohamed pull off the impossible, and fought back from two down to win the match 3-2, in arguably the biggest win of her career to date.
3. CIB Ali Farag v Paul Coll – Windy City Open Final
[1] Ali Farag 3-2 [5] Paul Coll (Nzl) 12-14, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-1 (77m)
Is there ever not a good match between Ali Farag and Paul Coll these days?
The Kiwi has edged closer and closer to getting a victory over Farag, with the Egyptian winning the last 11 consecutive matches. And it looked as though it was finally going to happen for Coll, after enjoying his best run at a tournament beating World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy for the first time, before taking out former World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad en route to his first Platinum final.
Farag started the match well, but it was Coll who saved five game balls to come from 10-7 down and take the first game 14-12. The World No.5 then doubled his advantage after letting Farag fight back from 7-3 down.
However, the Egyptian showed just why he has won the top honours in the sport as he played brave squash to overturn a two-game deficit and lift the Windy City Open trophy for the first time in his career, following on in the footsteps of his wife Nour El Tayeb who won the 2018 edition.
2. CIB Hania El Hammamy v Camille Serme – CIB World Champs Quarters
[14] Hania El Hammamy 3-2 [3] Camille Serme (Fra) 7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 (69m)
One of the biggest shocks and greatest comebacks of the season came in front of the Pyramids of Giza, as Hania El Hammamy got the better of then-World No.4 Camille Serme to secure a place in the semi-finals of the PSA World Championship for the first time in her career.
The pair had faced off four times previously, once in each of the last four seasons, with El Hammamy having only taken a single game from the Frenchwoman, losing 3-0 in the other three clashes.
Serme took the first two games with relative ease, but El Hammamy fought her way back into the match, and the home crowd carried her on to a wonderful victory, and she would only be beaten in the semis by the eventual champion, Nour El Sherbini.
CIB Nouran Gohar v CIB Nour El Tayeb – U.S. Open Final
[3] Nouran Gohar 3-2 [4] Nour El Tayeb 3-11, 8-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-7 (67m)
Nouran Gohar looked down and out in the final of the U.S. Open in Philadelphia as compatriot Nour El Tayeb played with complete dominance and swagger to ease into a two-game lead.
However, something clicked for Gohar in the third and thus one of the most impressive comebacks began as the two Egyptians put on a brilliant display of squash to impress the full house of spectators inside Drexel University.
