Year In Review: A Look Back at 2022 – Part One

As we head into 2023, we’ve taken a look back at all the action and talking points that happened in what was another exciting year on the PSA World Tour.

January

A quiet start to the new year saw World Tour victories for Ali Farag, who captured the Houston Open Gold event title to start the new year on the right foot, beating compatriot Mazen Hesham in the final. The SQUASHTV cameras then headed to Washington for the Squash On Fire Open which saw top seeds Mohamed ElShorbagy and Nour El Sherbini capture the titles.

February

The first Platinum event of the season followed in February as Chicago welcomed players once again for the Windy City Open. Unseeded Youssef Ibrahim was in terrific form and progressed all the way to the final where he eventually lost out from 2-0 up against the new World No.1 Paul Coll, who overtook Farag during the event as we rolled into March. Nouran Gohar took the women’s title as she overcame Hania El Hammamy in a feisty final.

March/April

Gohar backed up her strong Chicago performance in the next Platinum event at the Black Ball Sporting Club as she sliced her way through the draw to face nemesis El Sherbini in the final. Gohar led 2-0 in the final before El Sherbini was forced to withdraw injured to hand Gohar the title and the guaranteed World No.1 spot in the April rankings.

It was then Fares Dessouky’s turn to himself on the list of World Tour winners for the year as he toppled Mostafa Asal to take the Canary Wharf Classic honours.

One of the most prestigious tournaments on the calendar, the British Open, was the next big title on the players’ radar as they headed to Hull for the final time. Defending men’s champion Coll was in inspired form all week and showed incredible discipline and concentration to not only successfully defend his title but also do so without dropping a single game. There was a familiar final in the women’s event due to the absence of World Champion El Sherbini. El Hammamy claimed her second Platinum title by reversing the result from the Windy City Open, beating Gohar in four games to clinch her first British Open title.

The Manchester Open closed out April, with Joelle King and Joel Makin taking the honours there.

May

May opened up with a return to New York’s Grand Central Terminal for the J.P. Morgan Tournament, marking the first time since 2020 that the event had been held. Farag and Gohar had a week to remember in front of a capacity crowd, felling Diego Elias and Amanda Sobhy in their respective finals.

The biggest prize in the sport was next on the PSA World Tour calendar as the PSA World Championships were held in Cairo in May. New Zealand’s Coll came into the event as the No.1 seed in the men’s event, looking to realise a childhood dream of being World No.1 & World Champion at the same time. He made it through to the semi-finals but was on the wrong side of a 109-minute battle with the rejuvenated ElShorbagy. Farag took the other semi-final against Asal to set up a rematch of the previous year’s final. ElShorbagy looked unstoppable at 2-1 up and looked sure to add a second world title to his trophy haul. But back came Farag and as ElShorbagy started to fade, Farag drew stronger and took the win to earn his third world title.

In the women’s event, recent British Open winner El Hammamy fell to returning danger Nour El Tayeb, who was competing in only her fifth event since returning to the PSA World Tour after giving birth to her first child. Gohar, known on tour as ‘The Terminator’, sliced her way through the draw to reach the final and set up a final with familiar foe and five-time champion El Sherbini. After losing the opening game, the ‘Warrior Princess’ stepped up as she so often does in big finals to take the match 3-1 and earn her sixth world title.

June

PSA World Tour action continued in Egypt at the end of the 2021-22 season with the El Gouna International taking place to close out the Platinum events for the season. Asal and El Hammamy captured the event titles in great fashion. They both scored big victories in the semi-finals, Asal overcoming World No.1 Farag for the first time in a best of five format, whilst El Hammamy defeated recent World Championship winner El Sherbini.

Asal then defeated Coll in the final in straight games to lift his second Platinum event title and really assert himself as one of the world’s leading players. El Hammamy faced off against Gohar yet again in a Platinum final in what is considered by many to be one of the best female matches in history. The pair went toe-to-toe in aggression, shots and pace with El Hammamy coming back from 2-0 down to claim the title.

A brand new event featured in June as action headed to the island of Mauritius for the Necker Mauritius Open (Men’s Gold event) and RM Club Open (women’s Challenger 30 event). The events saw a feisty women’s final go the way of Egypt’s Farida Mohamed as she beat Tinne Gilis in five games. ‘Peruvian Puma’ Elias found top form yet again on the PSA World Tour as he made squash look easy to not only take the event, but do so without dropping a game, eventually beating ElShorbagy in the title decider.

The 2021-22 season came to an end in usual fashion at the CIB PSA World Tour Finals, taking place in Cairo. All top four seeds made it through to the semi-finals in comfortable style as sixteen players became eight. Asal claimed another victory over Farag to set up a repeat of the El Gouna final as Coll defeated ElShorbagy to await Asal in the final. Gohar overturned her El Gouna loss to El Hammamy to reach the final, where she would play El Sherbini, who beat Sobhy in confident style.

The El Sherbini put on a total masterclass in the final against Gohar to defeat the World No.1 in straight games and claim the World Tour Finals title. A similar scenario happened in the men’s final too as a confident Asal needed just three games to see off Coll and successfully defend his title, setting him up well for the following season.

Stay tuned for part two of our look back at the year, which will be published tomorrow.