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El Sherbini Beats Gohar Again to Claim 40th Career Title at Windy City Open
Nour El Sherbini claimed her sixth title of the season and the 40th of her PSA Tour career, beating 2022 champion Nouran Gohar 3-1 in the final of the Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family.
The Egyptian pair were going head-to-head for the 30th time on the PSA Tour, with El Sherbini having won 21 of the previous 29 meetings, including the final of J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions just over a month ago.
That match had seen the World No.1 fight back from 2-0 down to deny Gohar a first title since returning from a plantar fascia injury in her heel, there was much less drama this time around, with a second-game wobble the only blemish in an otherwise dominant performance.
Stood courtside waiting for her name to be called before play, El Sherbini cut a determined figure, looking focused on the task ahead, and she wasted little time in edging in front.
A low forehand winner gave her the first point of the match and she was 6-1 up inside just four minutes, benefiting from some early strokes as Gohar’s accuracy eluded her.
A backhand into the nick from the Gohar serve gave El Sherbini a 9-4 lead, but Gohar found a forehand nick of her own to close it back to 9-7, with the ferocity of her winner epitomising her powerful game.
El Sherbini did hold off her opponent’s charge to take game one, but Gohar was growing in confidence and dominated game two, with El Sherbini struggling on her length.
A forehand cross-court winner handed Gohar a 9-4 lead and it was soon one game all, another backhand kill doing the job for the World No.3 on game ball, as the match approached the half-hour mark.
But as she so often does when things aren’t going her way, El Sherbini reset and came out firing in the third. She raced into a 4-0 lead, displaying the outstanding movement which has improved so much under the tutelage of Grégory Gaultier.
That 4-0 lead soon turned into seven game balls at 10-3 up, and while Gohar saved the first, she would get no more joy than that, El Sherbini clinching the game with a sharp backhand from deep in the court.
Perhaps surprisingly, the error count through three games was three to eight in Gohar’s favour, but it was the number of winners that had made the difference, with El Sherbini hitting 20 to Gohar’s 12.
The longest rally through those three games had been only 29 seconds, too, but Gohar requested a new ball to kick off the fourth, just as she’d done in her semi-final victory over Hania El Hammamy.
Unfortunately for Gohar, the new ball had little effect in changing the flow of the game, with El Sherbini sensing victory at 6-1 up in just three minutes.
Gaultier was cheering his charge on from the front row of seats, and he was soon celebrating glory with her.
An 8-1 lead was whittled back down to 8-4, but El Sherbini kept her cool, hitting an inch-perfect forehand kill to bring up match ball after a stroke, clinching glory on a forehand drop.
“I’m happy that I played the squash that I wanted to play today,” she said after her victory.
“There was a lot happening the whole week for me, there were a lot of things on my mind. I’m glad I got them out and I just tried to focus on today’s match .
“I was almost out in the second round, and I wasn’t happy with my performances. I told myself to keep going and building it up every match. I’ve not been happy in any match until the semis, so I didn’t know what was going to happen today.
“Nouran has been playing amazingly from the first match, so I just tried to enjoy it and I’m really happy that I played well today.
“I couldn’t have done it without the people around me and they’re the reason why I kept going this week. Having Greg [Gaultier] in my corner is always helping me and he is always supporting me. I was thinking a bit negatively, but he was always positive.
“It’s always a plus having him with me in tournaments and I’m grateful for his existence in my corner today. I can hear him each point and it helps me a lot, I love his support.
“This is one of the best seasons [in her career]. I’ve been playing really well from the start of the season. I don’t think I’ve won this many tournaments in one season, but I still wouldn’t say this is my best season. I’m happy with it, but I want to stay motivated for the rest of the season.
“Let’s keep going step by step.”
Result:
[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt [2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4 (50m)
