World No.3 Hania El Hammamy has reached the final of the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family for the first time after she ended World No.1 Nouran Gohar’s title defence at Chicago’s Lakeshore Sport & Fitness.
El Hammamy had won just one of her nine previous matches against Gohar coming into today’s match, but she produced a magnificent comeback from a game down to earn a spot in the final of the biggest tournament in professional squash.
Gohar, who beat El Hammamy at this stage of the last two PSA World Championships, found her range earlier than her opponent as she kept the ball squeezed against the side walls and attacked whenever El Hammamy hit a loose shot.
El Hammamy is one of the most tenacious players on the PSA Squash Tour and she wasn’t going to let this match go without a fight. Her accuracy went up a notch in the second game and she dragged Gohar around the court regularly, outmanoeuvring the world’s leading female player to draw level.
Gohar was under pressure once again in the third, with El Hammamy lifting the ball to great effect to pull Gohar away from the middle of the court. After earning the third game, El Hammamy stormed into a 4-1 lead in the fourth but, as is typical in matches between these two, the momentum shifted once again as Gohar came back to level at 5-5.
El Hammamy wasn’t to be denied though as she went up yet another gear to push Gohar to her limits, and she eventually closed out a 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 victory to cue huge celebrations from the 24-year-old.
El Hammamy has now ended Gohar’s 17-match unbeaten run and will take on either seven-time World Champion Nour El Sherbini or United States No.1 Olivia Weaver in tomorrow’s title decider.
“I feel great, but I’m not going to stop here,” said El Hammamy.
“Today is the second biggest day of my life so far, tomorrow is going to be the biggest. I’m over the moon and I’m so proud of how I managed my emotions. I kept calm, I wasn’t too up or too down and it was a challenge. I’m glad Karim [Darwish] was on the same page, I spoke to Laura and Danny Massaro too and it’s been one hell of a roller coaster.
“It’s really big to come through and beat the defending champion. I’ve lost to her the last two times after I beat her at the ToC, as much as that was heartbreaking, I told myself that today would be the day I came out on top, so it’s a massive proud moment.
“I’ve worked so much on improving the variety of my game. I don’t want to be known just as a physical player, I want to try as much as I can to improve my squash and improve my tactics and technical weaknesses. Everything is there for me to perform at the World Champs, but it was a matter of being in a zone where I can really show them off on court.
“Today was certainly one of those days, so I’m really happy.”
For updates on the PSA World Championships, visit the event website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, WhatsApp and LinkedIn. Check out the draw here.
Result
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 3-1: 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 (75m)
