Analysis: How Paris Squash 2023 was won

The inaugural Paris Squash 2023 concluded over the weekend as World Champions Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini claimed the first Platinum titles of the new PSA World Tour season in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

In what was an entertaining week in the French capital, the first major event to take place in France since 1994 threw up some shocks and surprises – as every first major event of the season does – as well as many quality encounters to set the bar very high for the rest of the 2023/24 campaign. We’ve taken a look at just how the Farag and El Sherbini navigated their way through the draw and ultimately claimed the titles.

Round One

English duo Katie Malliff and Lucy Beecroft scored upsets on the opening day in Paris in the women’s draw. Beecroft overturned a 21-place ranking deficit to beat Japan’s Satomi Watanabe and move into round two, whereas Malliff upset home hopes as she defeated French No.1 Melissa Alves in a tight four-game contest to move advance.

The pick of the upsets on day one in the men’s draw was a win for USA’s Timothy Brownell, who scalped England No.3 and World No.24 Patrick Rooney to reach the second round of a Platinum event for only the second time. There was also a tight win for Egypt’s former World No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar as he recovered from 2-0 down to defeat Germany’s Raphael Kandra and reach round two.

Round Two

The top seeds then entered the fray in round two to take on several 9/16 seeds and round one winners. Both champions were dealt tough opening matches on paper as they faced compatriots Rowan Elaraby and Youssef Soliman on the all-glass court in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

El Sherbini was up first and with just eight places separating her and World No.10 Elaraby, second round draws don’t come much tougher. The younger Egyptian started the better of the two in the opening game and capitalised on El Sherbini’s slow start to lead 8-4. The World Champion started to narrow the angles and cut out the errors from here and restricted Elaraby to just one point after this to steal game one 11-9. El Sherbini was clinical as she stepped back on court for game two and needed just 13 minutes to close out the second and third games to win 3-0 and move into round three.

Next onto court was the men’s top seed Ali Farag, who was facing World No.12 Youssef Soliman for the third time in 2023. Soliman had beaten Farag in February at the Pittsburgh Open so could take confidence from that win heading into this second round clash. It was clear from the opening rallies that Farag meant business on day two as he pushed up on the ‘T’ and cut the ball out at every opportunity to heap the pressure onto Soliman before finding winners from all corners of the court.

Farag was in a stingy, stubborn mood as he denied Soliman any opportunities to attack, restricting his compatriot to just 14 points across the whole match as he confidently booked his place in the third round.

Round Three

Farag featured again on day three as he faced Scotland’s Greg Lobban for a quarter final place. The World Champion didn’t put a foot wrong in the whole match as he absorbed all of Lobban’s attacks, then pounced in severe fashion to win the rallies. It seemed that no matter how good the Scottish No.1’s squash was, Farag would get ahead mid-way through the rally, then find a winner or force an error. Farag comfortably secured his quarter final spot, winning all three games 11-3.

Another compatriot was next for Nour El Sherbini as she looked to reach the final eight, but Salma Hany was not going to be an easy customer for the World No.2. El Sherbini picked up right where she left off in her previous match, only this time there was no sluggish start. ‘The Warrior Princess’ was sharp, aggressive and accurate throughout the contest, pinning Hany in the back left corner before jumping on the volley and firing a variety of shots into the front of the court to always keep her opponent on the move. 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 were the scores as El Sherbini advanced.

Quarter Finals

The last home hope Victor Crouin stood between Ali Farag and a semi-final place. With the Paris crowd ready to cheer on the World No.8 at every opportunity, the top seed would need to be on top form to spoil the party…and he was.

In similar style to Farag’s win over Lobban, there seemed to be no way for Crouin to consistently win points in the opening two games. Farag set his traps of hitting medium paced straight kills then pouncing on Crouin’s cross-courts to find the open space, making the court very big for the Frenchman. After winning both the opening games 11-5, some errors started to creep into the Egyptian’s game, but he managed to hang on despite the crowd’s best efforts to win 11-9 and claim a straight games win.

A third successive match against a compatriot stood between Nour El Sherbini and a semi-final place. Good friend and World No.6 Nour El Tayeb was the opponent looking to upset the seedings. In an exciting start to the match, the holds of El Tayeb were causing the World No.2 issues as she struggled to find her rhythm. The Manchester Open champion was fearless in her attacks and deservedly scored the opener, winning 11-8.

‘The Warrior Princess’ straightened up in game two, keeping El Tayeb pinned in the back corners and tight to the side walls. From here, the No.2 seed was able to force loose shots from her opponent and pick off winners at the front of the court. It wasn’t long before El Sherbini was in complete control and she closed all three of the following games out to win 3-1 and move to the final four.

Semi-Finals

For the 25th time, Ali Farag and Paul Coll went head-to-head, this time hoping for a spot in the final of the opening Platinum event of the 23-24 season. The pair played out one of the matches of the season at last year’s Canary Wharf Classic, with the two often bringing the best out of each other. This semi-final was no different.

In a 96-minute epic, Farag managed to edge out the New Zealand No.1 12-10 in the fifth game. A confident and accurate start by Coll seemed to be frustrating Farag as he struggled to find winners against the athletic World No.5. After losing the opening game 13-11, Farag responded in true World No.1 style by finding space on the court to exploit the movement of Coll and he took a 2-1 lead to place one foot in the final. Coll frustrated Farag again in game four though and managed to force a decider. Farag earned the first match ball at 10-9 but missed a sitter of a drop by his standards to hand Coll a lifeline. However, a tin from the Kiwi at 11-10 sealed the win for the World No.1

England’s Georgina Kennedy had taken advantage of the gap in the draw left by No.3 seed Hania El Hammamy – who lost to Sabrina Sobhy in round three – to reach her first Platinum semi-final. El Sherbini and Kennedy met in the quarter finals of the British Open with Kennedy pushing the Egyptian all the way to five games on that occasion, but El Sherbini was not going to allow history to repeat itself with a final place up for grabs in Paris.

El Sherbini managed to beat the energetic Englishwoman in just 25 minutes, 11-7, 11-2, 11-5 by using great holds at the back and middle of the court to stop and start Kennedy’s movement, making every movement hard. The space on the court became bigger and bigger for El Sherbini to attack, which she did willingly.

Finals

Both finals had extra significance as in addition to the Paris Squash titles, the World No.1 spots were also on the line, with Diego Elias and El Sherbini hoping to take top spot off Farag and Nouran Gohar, respectively in this week’s rankings.

The women’s final was up first and it would be the 15th time that the Egyptian duo would be facing off in a final. El Sherbini was dominant in the head-to-head for finals, winning 11 times against Gohar’s 3. The World No.1 started in aggressive style and was determined to let El Sherbini know that she meant business. The No.2 seed weathered the Gohar storm to lead 8-3 but the resilience of Gohar set in to force errors from El Sherbini, which handed Gohar game one.

Again the World Champion was not deterred. She continued to find her targets in the back corners, giving Gohar no chance to impose her hard hitting game as the ball was always tight to the side and back walls. El Sherbini was able to move ahead in the court and cut out Gohar’s drives, finding winner after winner to win the next three games confidently 11-4, 11-8, 11-5 to claim the opening Platinum event of the season.

A repeat of the British Open final was up next in the men’s final as Farag took on ‘Peruvian Puma’ Elias for the title.

The question leading into the match was how Farag would be feeling physically after his 96-minute semi-final clash with Coll and whether Elias could capitalise if Farag was not at his best. The expected sluggish start from the World No.1 occurred and the World No.2 pounced to take it 11-2. The South American continued to play smart, accurate squash in game two to build up a 9-6 lead and he looked certain to take a crucial 2-0 advantage. Farag battened down the hatches, however, and forced errors from the Peruvian to score seven of the next nine points, taking the game 13-11 to equalise.

The reality of not taking the second game from such a promising position seemed to devastate Elias as play commenced in game three. The body language of the 26-year-old was extremely negative, with shoulders slumped and movement slow. Farag steamrolled through the game to win 11-1 to take the lead for first time in the final. Elias picked himself up after some stern words from his father in between games and was much more competitive in game four to give himself a lifeline in the final. A brutal rally at 6-5 seemed worked in Farag’s favour as he pressed on, later moving ahead to 10-7. Elias clawed two points back, but at 10-9 Farag sealed the win with an inch-perfect backhand volley drop to claim the title and remain as World No.1.

The PSA World Tour heads to Doha, Qatar next for the QTerminals Qatar Classic 2023, which takes place between 9 – 16 September. All the action will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV. For more information, visit the PSA World Tour website.