2022 Year In Review: Matches of the Year PT1

As we come to the end of 2022, we are taking a look back at some of the best bits of the year, and this time, it’s the best matches of the year!

There have been over 1,400 matches shown live on SQUASHTV over the course of the year. We started with the Houston Open in January, and have been around the globe, ending the year with the Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open, and the WSF Women’s World Team Championships.

We have whittled those 1,400+ matches down to ten, and there are some absolute crackers in our list. From major finals, to group stage matches, this year has seen epic contests across the board.

Take a look at our first set of five here, with the second lot to follow tomorrow afternoon.

Windy City Open Presented by the Walter Family – Final
Youssef Ibrahim v Paul Coll

The first Platinum event of the year was the Windy City Open Presented by the Walter Family, which took place at the University Club of Chicago in late February and early March.

Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim, the World No.17 at the time, made his way into a maiden Platinum final, thanks to beating both of the ElShorbagy brothers in five-game battles. He came up against World No.2 Paul Coll, after the Kiwi had downed Tarek Momen in five in the semi-finals.

It looked like it would be the young Egyptian who would go on to claim his first major title, as he went two games up after claiming the second on a tie-break.

However, Coll’s never-give-up attitude kicked in, and he was able to take the third and fourth game comfortably, but the fifth game could have gone either way. Eventually, the Kiwi was able to scrape through 11-9 to crush Ibrahim’s dreams of a first major title. Instead, the World No.2 lifted his first major on American soil, winning the Windy City Open Presented by the Walter Family crown.

Manchester Open – Semi-Finals
Joelle King v Nele Gilis

The Manchester Open moved to its earliest place in the year since its inaugural event in 2019. April saw the same venue, but a different look for the Silver-level tournament, with a second glass court being erected in the National Squash Centre.

No.2 seed Joelle King and No.4 seed Nele Gilis came to blows in the semi-finals of the competition, and the pair did battle for almost an hour and a half as they tried to reach the final.

It was the Belgian, who now sits at her highest career-ranking of World No.9, that took the opening game, but she saw King level the match by winning the second game 11-8. The same pattern followed over the next two games, and the Kiwi had to come from behind for a second time to send the match into a deciding game.

The fifth game had it all, and in front of a packed crowd at the National Squash Centre in Manchester, it was eventually King that came through. She won the decider 15-13, after both had their chances. The Kiwi would go on to win the tournament, one of three victories for her in 2022.

CIB PSA World Championships Cairo – Semi-Finals
Paul Coll v Mohamed ElShorbagy

The biggest event in squash, the CIB PSA World Championships took place in Cairo in May 2022. The tournament had the biggest ever prize pot, with a total of $1.1million on offer for those in action, and it brought about some amazing squash.

Prior to the semi-finals, Paul Coll had gone the distance with Egypt’s Tarek Momen, with the Kiwi eventually coming through their amazing contest after more than two hours on court.

He then took on former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy in the semi-finals of the World Championships, and like many of their battles in the past, this one went to five as well. It was Coll who led after three games, with a third game tie-break going his way, and it looked like that might have been the key point in a victory.

However, ElShorbagy came out firing in the fourth, and ‘Beast Mode’ was on full show for the rest of the contest. For the second day in succession, Coll was on court for more than 100 minutes, but he was on the wrong side of the result in the semis, with ‘The Beast’ eventually winning in five.

El Gouna International – Quarter Finals
Mostafa Asal v Diego Elias

A week on from the conclusion of the CIB PSA World Championships, the PSA World Tour was in the seaside destination of El Gouna, and the quarter finals of the competition threw up an instant classic between home favourite Mostafa Asal and Peru’s Diego Elias.

Both men came into the contest off the back four-game battles in the third round. Elias had defeated Frenchman Gregoire Marche, while Asal downed Welsh No.1 Joel Makin in a lengthy 83-minute match.

It was the Egyptian that came out of the blocks quickly in the quarters in El Gouna, though, and he led by two games. He then had his chances over the next couple of games, but the ‘Peruvian Puma’ fought through, winning both the third and fourth games 11-9 to set up a deciding salvo. In the end, Asal won the fifth easily, but the contest will be remembered for its high-tempo and incredible action.

Asal would eventually go on to win the title, his first major in Egypt, thanks to victories over Ali Farag and Paul Coll, the top two players in the world.

El Gouna International – Final
Nouran Gohar v Hania El Hammamy

Fast forward a couple of days, and World No.1 Nouran Gohar took on World No.3 Hania El Hammamy for the women’s crown at the Platinum-level El Gouna International.

‘The Terminator’ started strongly, and in a manner that befitted her nickname. She dropped just six points over the first couple of games in the contest, and it looked like she would go on to take a comfortable three-game victory.

However, the World No.3 was not done yet. A tight third game went her way to keep her in the contest, before Gohar had her chance to wrap up the match in four. El Hammamy kept her at bay, just, to win it 11-9, and she took that momentum into the fifth game.

In the end, the pair were on court for 90 minutes, and after five games of high-octane squash, it was the World No.3 that took the victory. She came back from two games down to beat the World No.1, causing a major upset from that position.

This was the second of El Hammamy’s four major titles in 2022, the tour’s leader for the year when it came to the biggest titles available. She also won the Allam British Open, CIB Egyptian Open and the Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open.