Open de France de Squash Final: Preview & How To Watch Live

The finals of the Open de France de Squash take place tonight, with action in one of squash’s most unique venues, Hangar 24 in Nantes, beginning from 21:00 (GMT+2).

Both the women’s final – contested by Belgian sisters Nele and Tinne Gilis – and the men’s final – which sees France’s Victor Crouin take on Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy – will be best-of-five format and streamed live on SQUASHTV.

You can also keep up to date with live scores from the event here and we’ll be bringing you updates from our social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Here’s the Order of Play
(All times are local – GMT+2)

[2] Tinne Gilis v Nele Gilis [1]

The first final sees Belgian sisters Nele and Tinne Gilis go head-to-head for the sixth time on the PSA World Tour. While top seed Nele boasts a 4-1 head-to-head record on the tour, Tinne was victorious in their last meeting, which came in the final of the Annecy Rose Open in April this year.

If No.2 seed Tinne is to record a second final win over her older sister, she’ll need to show more of the excellent form from the end of last season that helped her overtake Nele and rise to a career-best World Ranking of 12.

World No.13 Nele, meanwhile, will be hoping for a win to pick up a first title of the season as she renews her bid to break into the top ten.

Both sisters have shown plenty of skill and fight en route to today’s final.

Nele enjoyed a relatively serene start to the tournament, with straight-game victories over Marie Stephan and Salma Eltayeb, before twice coming from behind in a five-game thriller against No.3 seed Tesni Evans in the semi-final.

Tinne, meanwhile, was in danger of being a high-profile casualty in the best-of-three-format second round when she went a game down against talented Japanese star Satomi Watanabe, before rallying to take the match 2-1.

Since then, the younger Gilis sister has looked in fine form, dispatching Nicole Bunyan and Fayrouz Aboelkheir in straight games.

Will Nele avenge her recent defeat to Tinne? Or will bragging rights be going to the younger sister once again.

[1] Marwan ElShorbagy v Victor Crouin [4]

In the men’s final, home favourite and No.4 seed Victor Crouin will compete in his third successive final as he takes on Egyptian top seed Marwan ElShorbagy.

Crouin, 23, has made a phenomenal start to his first season as a full-time professional, reaching the finals of the Bronze-level CIB Zed Open and the Platinum-level QTerminals Qatar Classic.

After falling just short in both, the World No.11 will be hoping for success against World No.9 ElShorbagy, whose brother Mohamed beat him in Doha.

ElShorbagy, though, has looked dangerous in Nantes, with the 29-year-old – who came from behind to beat Crouin in their only previous meeting, a 3-1 victory in the 2020 Egyptian Open – beating Englishmen Nick Wall and Declan James before dispatching No.3 seed Sauav Ghosal 3-1 in an entertaining semi-final.

Crouin, however, will take confidence from his perfect run through to the final, with the Frenchman yet to drop a game after impressive straight-games wins against Aly Abou Eleinen, Leonel Cardenas and compatriot and Auguste Dussourd.

Who will pick up their first title of the season?