HSC Houston Men’s Squash Open/Squash On Fire Open – Finals: Previews & How To Watch Live

It’s finals day in Houston and Washington, DC as the Gold-level HSC Houston Men’s Squash Open and the Bronze-level Squash On Fire Open come to an end.

In Houston, World No.1 Ali Farag takes on World No.7 Mazen Hesham at 16:00 (GMT-6), while in the capital, play begins at 13:30 (GMT-5) with a rematch of last year’s women’s final between Belgium’s Tinne Gilis and 16-year-old Egyptian Amina Orfi, followed by the men’s final between Egypt’s Youssef Soliman and Spain’s Iker Pajares at 14:30.

Action from both events is available to watch live on SQUASHTV, while you can follow the live scores here.

For more information on the HSC Houston Men’s Squash Open 2024 and the 2024 Squash on Fire Open, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Houston Open: Ali Farag v Mazen Hesham

In the Houston Open, it’s an all-Egyptian final between top seed Ali Farag and No.5 seed Mazen Hesham.

These two are plenty familiar with each other, having played each other on no fewer than 16 occasions on the PSA World Tour.

Looking at the head-to-head stats, it’s easy to see why some feel this is Farag’s tournament to lose, with the 31-year-old winning 14 of those 16 encounters, including the most recent meeting, a 3-0 win in the quarter-final of the Hong Kong Squash Open last December.

Hesham, though has the weaponry to hurt Farag, with the 29-year-old ending a 10-match losing streak to Farag last May with a 3-2 win in the last eight of the Optasia Championships.

Both players have put in some spectacular performances in Houston this year.

Hesham, a popular figure here, began with a comfortable win over Karim El Hammamy in round two, before wowing the crowd with 3-2 wins over former World No.1s Mostafa Asal and Mohamed ElShorbagy in the quarters and semis, respectively.

Farag, meanwhile, has serenely built on his spectacular form this season, with the four-time World Champion still undefeated in 2024 after wins over Farkas Balazs, Tarek Momen and Karim Abdel Gawad in the Lone Star State.

Squash On Fire Open: Tinne Gilis v Amina Orfi

In the first of the Squash On Fire Open finals, Tinne Gilis and Amina Orfi lock horns once again. The pair contested this tournament’s final last year, with Gilis cruising to a 3-0 victory in DC.

Orfi, still just 16 years of age, has come on considerably since breaking onto the scene last year, with the Egyptian getting revenge over Gilis last month with a 3-2 win in the third round of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions.

Both players have impressed again this week, with each dropping just one game so far.

Gilis, who has accumulated 99 minutes on court, made short work of Haya Ali in round two before overcoming Hana Moataz 3-1 in the quarter-final and Tomato Ho 3-0 in the semis. Orfi, meanwhile, has spent 120 minutes on court, beating Ainaa Amani 3-0 in round two before coming back from a game down to beat Rachel Arnold in the quarters and then defeating home favourite Sabrina Sobhy in the semis.

Squash On Fire Open: Iker Pajares v Youssef Soliman

In the men’s final, Spain’s Iker Pajares and Egypt’s Youssef Soliman meet for the first time in almost six years, with the pair last sharing a court in the qualifying final of the Wimbledon Club Squash Squared Open in March of 2018, a 115-minute five-game epic that went Soliman’s way.

Since then, both players have firmly established themselves on the PSA World Tour, with Soliman now ranked World No.12 and Pajares World No.20.

No.2 seed Soliman has put in some excellent performances so far this week, overcoming Velavan Senthilkumar 3-0 in his opening match before coming from behind to down Todd Harrity in the quarter-final and the beating the ever-dangerous Youssef Ibrahim 3-1 in the last four.

Pajares, meanwhile, has had fight hard all week, with two of his three matches going the distance. The 27-year-old beat Spain compatriot Bernat Jaume 3-1 in round two and then overcame England’s Nathan Lake 3-2 in the quarter-final. The Spain No.1 saved his best squash until yesterday evening, though, digging in tremendously to come back from 2-1 down to oust top seed Victor Crouin in an 89-minute clash, with Pajares coming back from the brink to clinch the fifth game 14-12.