PHOTO ALBUM
Final
[2] Amina Orfi3-0 [6] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 (38m)
Egypt’s Amina Orfi won her third title of the season as the 17-year-old put in an incredible performance at the Isaac Theatre Royal to defeat Japan’s Satomi Watanabe in the 2025 New Zealand Open final.
Watanabe went into today’s match with a 2-0 record over Orfi, though there was little between the pair in their last clash, a 77-minute epic in the semi-finals of January’s Squash in the Land that was decided on a tie break in the fifth game.
Orfi was magnificent early on in today’s clash, with the young Egyptian dominating early proceedings to earn a 7-2 lead in the opener.
Watanabe began to chip away at Orfi’s lead, but the 17-year-old’s lead was too great to overcome as the No.2 seed took the first game 11-5.
Watanabe hit her lengths better in game two, recovering from 0-4 down to take an 8-6 lead. Orfi, though, is one of the Tour’s coolest customers, and the Egyptian was completely unfazed as she calmly went about her business to chalk off Watanabe’s lead and then take a 2-0 lead with an 11-8 win.
Flowing with confidence, Orfi never let her energy or commitment drop, and she took a huge lead at 9-4 in the third game.
Watanabe took the next point to briefly threaten a comeback, but was no match for Orfi’s unnerving accuracy, and the teenager won her third title of the season with an 11-5 victory.
“To be honest, I still can’t believe it,” Orfi admitted afterwards.
“I’m so happy to win my third title. When we played two months ago and she won, she then won the title. So it’s really special for me to win this title.
“I thought about [the defeat in Squash in the Land] coming into this tournament, even when I was back home. But I just tried to forget it because it was a tough match and it could have gone either way, so I just made sure I didn’t really focus on that today.”
Semis
[2] Amina Orfi 3-0 [3] Rowan Elaraby 12-10, 12-10, 11-2 (46m)
Quarters
[7] Salma Hany 3-2 [1] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 (66m)
[2] Amina Orfi 3-1 [8] Rachel Arnold (MAS) 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5 (46m)
[3] Rowan Elaraby 3-0 [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (32m)
Salma Hany will take on Satomi Watanabe after fighting back from 0-2 down to dump out top seed Tinne Gilis in the first match of the day.
Game one was a perfect curtain raiser, with both players attacking into the front corners brilliantly. Hany was the first to make a move, going ahead 6-4 as she hit her marks with more consistency than Gilis. Once the Belgian worked out her angles, though, Hany struggled to cope with Gilis’ attacks, as the top seed took five points in a row on the way to an 11-7 win.
Gilis looked sharp again in game two, doubling the lead by the same scoreline. Game three was another entertaining and free-flowing clash, with Gilis and Hany proving popular with the crowd as they traded blows. After coming close in games one and two, Hany finally got – and kept – the upper hand in the third, pulling a game back 11-9.
Gilis started game three edgily, handing Hany the initiative with a number of errors and the Egyptian quickly levelled after decimating Gilis 11-5.
The last time the pair met, in last season’s El Gouna International quarter-finals, Hany came back from 0-2 down before eventually losing in five to Gilis. This fact, and the pressure of the occasion, perhaps played on both players’ minds at the beginning of game five, which was a cagey and ragged affair punctuated by collisions, decisions and appeals.
Hany initially dealt with the constant interruptions better, inching ahead to a 7-3 lead before Gilis finally resettled to take the scores to 7-7. Hany regained her composure after the flow of points and was the first player to reach match ball with a narrow 10-9 lead. In a brilliant final rally, Hany was able to complete to comeback, sending Gilis all over the court before sending a perfect drive beyond her opponent’s despairing dive to convert at the first opportunity.
“Absolutely incredible!” Hany said afterwards. “I’m very, very proud of how I fought today. Tinne was playing really good and it’s always very tough with her, and I’ve never beaten her before. And to to be able to come back after 0-2 against such a great player is definitely something I’m very proud of.
“At 0-2 down I felt like ‘this is not how I want to play today. This is not my standards.’ And I definitely remembered how I came back in El Gouna after she bagelled me, and in the second game… well, I need to stop mentioning that.
“So, yeah, I remember that I knew I had the mental strength to come back 0-2 down. And in the fifth, it was absolutely brutal. I just kept telling myself to keep pushing until the last point and and yeah, hopefully I would get the win this time!”
Tournament No.2 seed Amina Orfi held off a stern fightback from Rachel Arnold to tee up a semi-final showdown with either Rowan Elaraby or Sivasangari Subramaniam. Orfi, unbeaten against Arnold on Tour, looked on course to progressing in three but had to dig deep after the Malaysian fought back.
Egyptian starlet Orfi piled on the pressure from the off, storming the first two games 11-5, 11-6. The attacking promise Arnold showed glimpses of in the first two games came to the fore in the third, with her attacks all over the court seeing the Malaysian dominate the middle of the court instead.
However Orfi was back in the driving seat, stepping up the court in the fourth and using her power to claim a 11-5 victory and progress to the semi finals.
“I knew the court was kind of dead so I had to hit tight lengths and I missed that in the middle and end of the third game,” she said afterwards.
“The court doesn’t really affect my game plan, you just have to pay attention to what the other player does.”
The semi-final draw is complete following Rowan Elaraby’s straight games victory against Sivasangari Subramaniam. In the final match of the day, Elaraby locked in her place in the last four tomorrow night after downing Sivasangari in just over half an hour.
A close opener, both players slotted their chances when they were presented to them but it was Elaraby who nudged ahead at the business end to go 1-0 up. Despite trailing 8-1 in the second, Sivasangari sparked into life with a flurry of late points but the damage had already been done as Elaraby doubled her advantage.
Elaraby’s accurate width and length had Sivasangari scrambling across the court, but she was hanging tough to try and halve the deficit. But it was Elaraby’s day, winning the third 11-8.
“I have a lot of respect for Siva, we’ve played together since we were kids. I knew what to expect as we know each other’s games so well,” she said.
“I was ready for everything she could throw at me today and I’m glad I managed to get the win.
“I have great memories of New Zealand, it’s where I won my World Junior Championship in 2017 in Tauranga. New Zealand has a very special place in my heart and hopefully I can win another title here.”
Round Two
[7] Salma Hany 3-0 [9/16] Ainaa Amani (MAS) 11-3, 11-6, 13-11 (38m)
[3] Rowan Elaraby 3-0 [9/16] Marina Stefanoni (Usa) 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 (31m)
[2] Amina Orfi 3-1 [9/16] Hana Moataz 11-6, 9-11, 11-2, 19-17 (65m)
[1] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0 Nour Heikal 11-8, 11-2, 11-5 (22m)[6] Baptiste Masotti (Fra) 3-1 [9/16] Yahya Elnawasany 3-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-3 (45m)
In an all-Egyptian encounter, teenage World No.8 and tournament No.2 seed Amina Orfi dragged herself through to the quarter-finals after being tested to her limits by World No.40 Hana Moataz.
Both of their previous encounters on Tour had been close affairs, with Moataz beating the 17-year-old 3-1 in 64 minutes at last season’s Black Ball Squash Open before Orfi got her revenge a week later with an epic 87-minute 3-2 win at the El Gouna International.
Today’s clash was another epic, with momentum swinging back and forth as Orfi comfortably took game one 11-6 before Moataz struck back 11-9 in game two. Orfi dominated the third 11-2 before the match concluded with an epic 28-minute long fourth game.
Both players threw everything at each other in a nerve shredder of a game. Moataz was the first player to reach game ball, getting her nose in front at 10-9 as she aimed to force a fifth game.
Orfi saved that game ball, as well as a further seven in an incredible conclusion. Despite her eight game balls, Moataz could not get the crucial extra point and Orfi, after two wasted match balls of her own, finally put the contest to bed with a 19-17 win.
The tournament’s No.3 seed Rowan Elaraby proved to be too strong for Marina Stefanoni as she downed the American in straight games. It’d been seven years since the two last met on the PSA Squash Tour, with Elaraby triumphing 3-0 at the Richmond Open in 2018.
Elaraby was on the front foot from the off while Stefanoni struggled to get to grips with the glass court before finding her feet midway through the opener. World No.9 Elaraby drew first blood with a 11-6 success, a scoreline she repeated in the second despite some unforced errors creeping in from the Egyptian’s racket.
While Elaraby dominated the middle of the court for large patches of the match, Stefanoni had some purple patches of her own in the third as the American ran Elaraby close. However the Egyptian powered through to clinch a 11-8 win and seal a quarter-final place.
In the final match of the day, Salma Hany earned a quarter-final place in her fourth event in succession after downing Ainaa Amani 3-0. Hany, who returned from injury at the start of 2025, reached the last eight of her first three events on her comeback, and she’s extended that to four tournaments after holding off the Malaysian.
The Egyptian was in determined mood after winning the first 11-3 in just seven minutes. Hany doubled her advantage in a much more scrappy encounter in the second, with some traffic issues disrupting the flow.
Amani showed some promising signs despite losing the second, and Hany stormed into a 6-0 lead in the third as she looked on course to securing her place in the quarter finals. But Amani surged back, levelling at 8-8 before saving both of Hany’s match balls to force a tiebreak. Hany had to dig deep to hold off Amani to chalk up a 3-0 win.
Round One
[9/16] Yahya Elnawasany 3-0 Joseph White (AUS) 11-7, 11-5, 11-3 (26m)
Nour Heikal3-1 [9/16] Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG) 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 (29m)
[9/16] Hana Moataz3-1 Énora Villard (FRA) 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-2 (35m)
Nour Heikal overturned a 1-0 deficit to defeat Tsz-Wing Tong 3-1 to tee up a second round clash with the tournament’s top seed Tinne Gilis.
In their first-ever meeting on Tour, Tong claimed the first 11-6 with the rallies being kept very short from both players. Tong looked to have continued where she left off in the first game with a comfortable lead in the second, only for Heikal to fight back and restore parity.
The young Egyptian was beginning to find her feet as she clinched the third 11-7 before holding off a fightback from Tong in the fourth to secure a second round berth.
“It wasn’t my best performance, but sometimes just getting into the groove of the first match can be quite hard,” she said post-match.
“It was just about getting my body moving again and that mentality again. I was off and I wasn’t hitting any lines and I wanted to go short from the start and I knew she [Tong] was going to go short as well.
“It’s not going to be easy [playing top seed Tinne Gilis next]! I’m really excited to get on court with a player like her, but I need to step up my A game tomorrow.”
Yahya Elnawasany confirmed his place in round two following a 3-0 success against Joseph White.
The pair had only met once before on the PSA Squash Tour, where Elnawasany claimed a 3-1 victory in the first round at last year’s World Championships.
The Egyptian dominated this occasion with his excellent shot variety causing problems for White, with crosscourt backhand drives and drop shots into both front corners being successful.
Baptiste Masotti, a quarter finalist in 2023, awaits Elnawasany in round two tomorrow afternoon.
World No.40 Hana Moataz took her time to settle into the match before finding her feet, pulling away after an even opening spell to take game one 11-7.
Moataz went up through the gears in game two, upping the tempo to take control of the rallies as she moved into a deserved 2-0 lead as she took game two 11-4.
Villard fired back 11-9 in game three as Moataz took her foot off the gas, but it proved a false dawn for the Frenchwoman, as Moataz then dominated game four to ease into the second round 11-2.
Egyptian duo Amina Orfi and Rowan Elaraby sit in-between the Gilis sisters in the seedings at No.2 and 3. Orfi is feared by all on the PSA Squash Tour as her fearless attitude on court has seen her claim a win over World No.3 Hania El Hammamy and push World Champion Nouran Gohar.
Elaraby will be looking to reach her first final in over a year as she heads to New Zealand for the first time. There’s no doubting the skill of the young Egyptian but she’ll be hoping to score more upsets and titles to make a run towards the world’s top five.
