World Champion Nouran Gohar continued her sensational run of form as she overcame World No.1 Nour El Sherbini to win the season-ending Xbox PSA World Tour Finals – her fifth successive title.
Gohar’s incredible form has seen her win 25 matches in a row, while she has now won the Black Ball Open, El Gouna International, PSA World Championships, British Open and Xbox PSA World Tour Finals titles in succession, beating El Sherbini in the final of the last four of those events.
It was the World No.1 who took the opening game today in Bellevue, with her accuracy in the latter stages seeing her pull away from 6-6. Despite the high stakes nature of the match, there was a moment of levity when El Sherbini thought she’d won the match at 10-7, initially walking off court before being made aware of the mistake by the referee.
A smiling El Sherbini returned to court and swiftly put the ball away to go a game ahead.
Gohar was dialled in, in the second game and quickly drew level as she raised her accuracy and went through the gears, dropping just two points. That resulted in a big momentum shift as Gohar stormed away at the outset of the third game to take a 10-7 lead.
El Sherbini same back to within a point, but Gohar rattled off a trademark backhand straight kill to close out the third game.
Both players saved some of their best squash for the fourth game, with the match going to a nail-biting sudden-death decider at 10-10. El Sherbini couldn’t match her opponent’s accuracy as she gave up a stroke to hand Gohar her third Xbox PSA World Tour Finals trophy.
“At 9-7 [in the fourth] I didn’t want that match to end because I was really enjoying myself on court today,” said Gohar.
“The crowd made it extra spicy out there. Any squash player can relate to this, when they’re hitting their marks, they’re feeling good and they have an amazing crowd, that’s all you want.
“Thanks so much to Haitham [Effat, Gohar’s coach] for today. He made a huge difference, especially when I was 1-0 down and Nour was playing really well. I love coming back to Seattle, it’s one of my favourite cities.
“It really helps to feel like you’re home. Shabana [Khan, tournament promoter] and the team have done an amazing job, and it’s the cherry on top for an amazing season. It’s my fifth title in a row, and I couldn’t have dreamt of this, to be honest.”
Result : [2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) 3-1: 7-11, 11-2, 11-9, 11-10 (57m)
