August
The PSA Squash Tour 2024/25 season kicked off in style with the first-ever Diamond-level event, the CIB Egyptian Open, taking place in Cairo. The event featured a main draw of 96 players across the men’s and women’s events, with the players battling it out for the lion’s share of a $650,000USD prize pot.
It would be double Egyptian success for the home fans in attendance at Club O West, with Nour El Sherbini and Mostafa Asal picking up the first titles of the new campaign. World No.1 El Sherbini ended her four-game losing streak against Nouran Gohar in the final with a four-game victory, while Asal powered his way past World No.1 Farag in an 81-minute four-game duel.
Elsewhere, unseeded Egyptian Nada Abbas enjoyed a career-best run to the semi-finals of the event, defeating Sarah-Jane Perry, Sivasangari Subramaniam and Sana Ibrahim before eventually falling to the racket of Gohar.
September
As well as the two Platinum events taking place in September, Paris Squash and the QTerminals Qatar Classic, the PSA Squash Tour also introduced the first-ever Copper-level events.
Mostafa Asal and Nour El Sherbini doubled down on their CIB Egyptian Open success with title victories in the French capital, with the pair once again getting the better of Farag and Gohar in the finals. The Paris Squash event also saw a match-of-the-decade contender, with Farag conquering Diego Elias in a 94-minute epic inside the Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione. In a match which Farag admitted he would “remember forever,” it was the World No.1 who took the honours 7-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4.
The Peruvian Puma would go on to capture the Qatar title after ending Asal’s 14-match unbeaten run in the final. El Sherbini also continued her dominant early-season form by overturning a 2-0 deficit to defeat Gohar.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Zakaria won the first-ever Copper-level title at the NASH Cup with an awe-inspiring performance. This title victory would be the start of a highly impressive first half of the season for 17-year-old rising star Zakaria.
October
The winners of the U.S. Open were Nouran Gohar and Ali Farag, who both claimed their first titles of the season. It was also an event to remember for the unseeded Aly Abou Eleinen, who produced one of the shocks of the season by defeating Mostafa Asal in the quarter-finals of the Platinum event.
Elsewhere there were a win for Farida Mohamed at the Open Squash Classic.
November
November proved to be a month to remember for teenage sensation Amina Orfi, with the 17-year-old winning back-to-back titles on the Asia leg of the PSA Squash Tour season.
Firstly, the Egyptian conquered home hero Sivasangari Subramaniam in the final of the ACE Malaysia Cup, taking a 98-minute classic 11-6 in the deciding game.
However, Orfi wasn’t done there. She backed up this performance with an even more impressive spell of squash, conquering World No.3 Hania El Hammamy 11-9 in a 96-minute title decider at the Singapore Open. This title victory – a Gold-level trophy – was the biggest triumph of Orfi’s career.
World No.1 Ali Farag won the Singapore Open, notably caming down from 2-0 down to defeat Diego Elias.
Former World Champion Tarek Momen continued his love affair with the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha by taking home the QSF 5 title. On the court where he won his 2019 World Championship crown, Momen overcame Aly Abou Eleinen in four games to win the 11th PSA Tour title of his career.
December
The final Platinum event of the 2024 calendar year was the Milwaukee Hong Kong Open, which offered the opportunity for a changing of the guard at the World No.1 spot in the women’s rankings.
After Gohar’s title victory at the U.S. Open Championships, the Egyptian had closed the gap considerably and only had to better the result of El Sherbini in Hong Kong to reclaim top spot – and this she did. After defeating Hania El Hammamy in the semi-finals, Gohar, whose 2016 triumph at this event was her first major win on the PSA Squash Tour, came from behind to conquer El Sherbini and move to World No.1.
Meanwhile, in the men’s event, ‘The Raging Bull’ went on to take the title with victory over Ali Farag in the final.
