Texas Open

PHOTO ALBUM

Finals

[1] Nouran Gohar3-1 [3] Hania El Hammamy   11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9 (64m)
[1] Ali Farag 3-0 [2] Mostafa Asal  11-9, 11-4, 0-0 ret. (33m)

Ali Farag defended both his World No.1 ranking and his title in Houston with an anti-climatic 3-0 win over Mostafa Asal in the Cotidie Texas Open final.

Farag won this event in both 2022 and 2024 – not playing in 2023 – and has been the men’s World No.1 since June 2023, but came into this final knowing that defeat to ‘The Raging Bull’ would see the 23-year-old overtake him at the top of the rankings.

Farag had also lost his three most recent encounters with Asal, all by a 3-1 scoreline, but put an end to that streak on the all-glass show court at Houston Squash Club, dominating the first two games before seeing his opponent retire injured.

Asal’s semi-final win over Marwan Elshorbagy had seen him lose five of the six points before dominating proceedings from there, and he once again made a slow start against Farag here, only this time he was unable to turn things around.

Instead, he fell 1-0 behind with Farag not making a single error in game one, hitting nine winners to Asal’s seven, closing out the game 11-9, a scoreline that perhaps does a disservice to how comfortable Farag looked.

He continued to play exceptionally accurate squash in game two, weaving a majestic web around both the court and his opponent, forcing Asal into even more errors.

It took only six minutes for Farag to win game two, and the crowd was left wondering whether they would see a comfortable three-game win or an epic Asal comeback, but they were left disappointed on both fronts. Instead, they didn’t get to see another point, as Asal headed back on clutching his lower leg before turning to Farag and shaking hands, retiring from the match and handing Farag the title.

“I love it,” he said of Houston. “Especially this year, I’ve been here for three weeks and hopefully Nour is going to deliver her baby in a couple of days’ time. Everyone has been so welcoming to us, I couldn’t have asked for a better ‘home for us for the past three weeks.

“They make us feel very comfortable and it translates on court and I think I played my best squash today. “I was telling Nour yesterday that I think this is my first ever tournament that I’ve had to play every match from the younger generation.

“I can’t think of another tournament where I didn’t have to play Elshorbagy or Gawad or Marwan or any of those guys. It feels different, there is a changing of the guard here. It feels exciting, they bring a different element to the game and the fact that I was able to win is even more satisfying.”

Nouran Gohar avenged her defeat to Hania El Hammamy at January’s Tournament of Champions, beating the World No.3 3-1 to win the Cotidie Texas Open final.

The World No.1 had got the better of El Hammamy in each of their last six meetings before their final in New York, but El Hammamy produced a sensational display to get her hands on the trophy at Grand Central Terminal and followed that up with an impressive run to the final here.

That included a first ever straight-games win over Nour ElSherbini on semi-finals day, but her hopes of another straight-games win here were ended 16 minutes in, as Gohar took the opener 11-6.

Much of the talk ahead of the match had been about the severity of Gohar’s knee injury, but despite wearing a brace on her left leg, she moved with relative freedom throughout game one, wrapping it up with a crunching backhand kill down the line.

Nouran Gohar-2.jpg

The players exchanged a brief word as they headed off court and it was El Hammamy who made the better start to game two, hitting a pair of crisp winners to end the first two rallies. She went on to dominate game two to draw level before hitting an outrageous winner on the first point of game three, drawing huge cheers from the crowd with an inside-out backhand drop.

The 24-year-old couldn’t help but smile at her own moment of magic, raising her arm to the crowd who responded with an even louder cheer. But she was unable to capitalise on the crowd’s energy, as Gohar rediscovered her rhythm to move back in front 2-1, with both players requesting a new ball to start game four.

The World No.1 had enjoyed considerable success down the backhand side in game three, highlighted by a pair of typically powerful kills, prompting El Hammamy into attacking the forehand side more often in game four. But Gohar dealt with everything that came her way, playing accurate squash throughout and continuing to dominate down the left-hand wall, bringing up three match balls at 10-7.

She saw the first two come and go, the second on a backhand boast that might have been a winner had it not clipped the tin, but it she would not be denied a third time, hitting a perfectly-weighted backhand cross-court that left El Hammamy no chance of a return.

Speaking after her win, an emotional Gohar said: “Where can I begin?”

“That was more than just a match for me, it was more a match against myself.

“I did everything I could to be able to step on court this week, and if wasn’t for my sponsor it wouldn’t have happened, it gave me a me a big boost. It just feels like home, a home club, a house and my coach is here. Everything I want is he

Semis

[1] Nouran Gohar 3-0 [4] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 (34m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy 3-0 [2] Nour ElSherbini  11-8, 11-8, 11-8 (42m)

[1] Ali Farag 3-1 [7] Victor Crouin (FRA) 11-5, 3-11, 11-8, 11-8 (51m)
[2] Mostafa Asal 3-0 [6] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) 11-5, 11-2, 11-1 (31m)

Nour Elsherbini Hania El Hammamy 25TO15708.jpg

Hania El Hammamy put in an outstanding display to record her first ever straight-games win over Nour ElSherbini, reaching finals day at the Cotidie Texas Open 2025, where Mostafa Asal and Ali Farag will battle it out for the men’s World No.1 ranking.

World No.3 El Hammamy reached at least the semi-finals of all six events she played in the first half of the season, but failed to get her hands on any silverware.

That all changed at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, though, where she beat ElSherbini and then Nouran Gohar to take home the trophy, and she’s now just one win away from repeating that feat here in Houston.

Just as she’d done in their semi-final in New York, El Hammamy took the opening game from ElSherbini, reeling off three points on the bounce to move from 8-8 to 11-8, clinching the game with a well-disguised backhand volley drop that sent her opponent the wrong way.

Game two then proceeded to be eerily similar to game one, with El Hammamy racing from 8-8 to 11-8 to win another 14-minute game, ending it on another backhand volley, this time a high overhand winner that gave ElSherbini no chance.

The 24-year-old had a spring in her step as she returned to court for game three, cutting a confident figure as she won the first two points, and playing with a smile on her face throughout, even when falling 4-2 behind.

Quarters

[1] Nouran Gohar 3-0 [6] Salma Hany 12-10, 14-12, 11-6 (40m)
[4] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-2 [8] Nada Abbas  11-9, 8-11, 4-11, 11-4, 11-8 (61m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy 3-0 [7] Farida Mohamed  11-3, 11-7, 11-6 (29m)
[2] Nour ElSherbini 3-0 [5] Rowan Elaraby  12-10, 11-5, 11-4 (36m)

[1] Ali Farag3-0 [8] Eain Yow Ng (MAS)  11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (38m)
[2] Mostafa Asal 3-2 [9/16] Aly Abou Eleinen 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7 (91m)

World No.1 Ali Farag continued the defence of his title at the Cotidie Texas Open, putting in an outstanding display to beat Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng 3-0 on quarter-finals day in Houston.

The Egyptian – champion here in both 2022 and 2024 – had come through a blockbuster round-two matchup with Youssef Ibrahim, a match that went into a fifth game and lasted more than 90 minutes. But he showed no signs of fatigue in the opening game here, taking just 11 minutes to take a one-game lead, closing it out on a cross-court backhand that found a nick and left Ng with no chance.

The second game followed a similar pattern to the first, with Ng staying within touching distance of Farag – helped by an audacious serve return into the nick – but fading away towards the end of the game, going down 11-7 after another 11 minutes.

The Malaysian continued to produce more moments of magic but they were too infrequent to cause Farag much concern, with the World No.1 controlling the T in almost every rally on his way to victory, securing his spot in the final four when Ng found the tin on a forehand drop.

After his win, the World No.1 discussed his recovery process following that epic matchup with Ibrahim.

“I’m very happy,” Farag said after his win. “Back in the day, when I was young, I didn’t used to like rest days, but now I definitely need them, and I needed yesterday.

“Thankfully we have Damian here, the PSA physio, working on my body, keeping it fresh, and then I came in today, and I wasn’t just fresh, but I played good squash, so I’m very happy.”

Mostafa Asal moved one step closer to reclaiming the World No.1 spot, beating Aly Abou Eleinen 3-2 over 91 minutes in the quarter-finals.

Asal can overtake Ali Farag at the top of the world rankings if he wins this event, but he faced a tricky test on quarter-finals day here in Houston in the form of World No.13 Eleinen, who had beaten him at the U.S. Open Championships in October.

Asal had avenged that defeat with a dominant display at the Tournament of Champions, losing just 13 points in a 3-0 win, but this was a different story from the get-go, with Eleinen troubling ‘The Raging Bull’ with his speed and agility around the court.

Eleinen’s reward was a one-game lead but parity was restored 15 minutes later, when Asal took his third game ball with a crunching backhand volley down the line. He then opened up an 8-4 lead in game three only to see Eleinen reel him back in, with contact between the two players – and resultant videos reviews – becoming more frequent as tensions climbed. Once again, though, it was Asal who came out on top, getting a stroke on another video review to move 10-9 up before seeing his opponent find the tin.

The script was flipped in game four, though, as Eleinen dominated from start to finish, hitting some outrageous winners including a ferocious forehand into the nick which drew a huge cheer from the crowd.

Asal then required treatment from the physio ahead of the deciding game, having been denied an injury break by the referee after going off his feet when sliding into the corner towards the end of the game.

The match was well past the hour mark as tension further filled the Houston Squash Club, and at 6-4 up, Eleinen would have sensing another upset and a place in the semi-finals. But Asal dug deep when it mattered, making the most of some errors from the Eleinen racket to bring up three match balls at 10-7, taking the first of those three by gluing a drive tight to the left-hand wall.

“I’m so happy with the way I pushed through today,” said Asal. “I struggled in the fourth with a little niggle but hopefully I’ll be okay. I pushed as much as I could but I just wanted two minutes to check what the damage was because I fell quite heavily, but I’m just happy to come through that.

“Aly is an unbelievable player. So talented and so explosive and he’s got such a bright future ahead of him. But for now, I’m just happy to be though.”

Round Two

[8] Nada Abbas 3-0 Nadine Shahin 11-8, 11-2, 11-3 (23m)
[4] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-2 Hana Moataz 7-11, 11-4, 11-2, 7-11, 11-4 (43m)
[1] Nouran Gohar 3-0 Tesni Murphy (WAL)  11-4, 11-4, 11-7 (29m)
[6] Salma Hany 3-0 Lucy Beecroft (ENG)  11-5, 11-9, 11-9 (33m)
[5] Rowan Elaraby 3-0 Mariam Metwally  11-7, 11-7, 11-8 (27m)
[2] Nour ElSherbini 3-1 Sana Ibrahim  11-8, 4-11, 11-6, 11-4 (36m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy 3-1 Lucy Turmel (ENG)  11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 11-5 (48m)
[7] Farida Mohamed 3-0 Ka Yi Lee (HKG)  11-8, 11-7, 11-5 (24m)

[1] Ali Farag 3-2 Youssef Ibrahim  12-10, 9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6 (93m)
Aly Abou Eleinen 3-0 [5] Youssef Soliman  11-8, 11-1, 11-5 (43m)
[2] Mostafa Asal 3-0 Mohamed Abouelghar 12-10, 11-4, 11-6 (52m)

 

Round One

Nadine Shahin 3-0 Salma Eltayeb 11-6, 11-3, 11-3 (15m)
Hana Moataz 3-1 Kenzy Ayman  11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 (34m)
Ka Yi Lee (HKG) 3-1 Malak Khafagy 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7 (31m)
Menna Hamed 3-0 Mariam Metwally  11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (32m)
Sana Ibrahim 3-0 Nour Aboulmakarim  11-8, 11-8, 11-6 (33m)

Youssef Ibrahim 3-1 [WC] Muhammad Ashab Irfan (PAK) 12-14, 11-3, 11-8, 12-10 (47m)
Aly Abou Eleinen 3-0 Bernat Jaume (ESP)  11-5, 11-3, 11-2 (29m)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-0 Salman Khalil  11-7, 11-3, 11-5 (26m)
Mohamed Abouelghar 3-0 Balazs Farkas (HUN)  14-12, 11-6, 11-3 (35m)

The Cotidie Texas Open 2025 will see a joint men’s and women’s Gold level event for the first time. Action will be split across not one, but two glass courts on the opening day before moving exclusively to the four-sided glass court from day two onwards.

World No.1s Nouran Gohar and Ali Farag are the top seeds for the event as they look to assure themselves at the top of the PSA World Rankings. Farag is a two-time winner in Houston, winning in 2022 and 2024. Gohar is also a previous winner in Houston after winning the South Western Women’s Open in 2022. The pair will both be looking to score victory one again and continue their impressive seasons.

World No.2s Nour El Sherbini and Mostafa Asal are the No.2 seeds. Asal will be heading to Houston for the third time in his career whilst ElSherbini will be playing in Houston for the first time. The ‘Warrior-Princess’ is chasing down Nouran Gohar at the top of the rankings and will know that only win is good enough if she is to make progress in hunting down the World No.1

Houston Squash Club holds a special memory for Asal. The Egyptian became the second youngest male World No.1 in history in January 2023 after he rose to the top the rankings after winning the event. Asal’s win over Marwan Elshorbagy in the semi-finals guaranteed him the spot in the next week’s rankings but he still went onto claim the title, beating Marwan’s brother, Mohamed, in the final.

Texas Open 2025 : It’s Ali and Nouran !

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