Analysis: How The World Tour Finals Were Won

The 2023/24 PSA World Tour season came to a close over the weekend as the champions of the Xbox PSA World Tour Finals were crowned with Ali Farag picking up the trophy for the first time in his career whilst Nouran Gohar claimed her third and her fIFTH title in a row.

The season-ending World Tour Finals brought together the top eight male and female players in the world to compete in a pool stage format before moving to a semi-finals and finals. All matches up to the final were best of three games with a tiebreak if the score reached 10-10 in any games.

This year’s event took place in Bellevue, USA and included several quality matches throughout, as you would expect from the world’s best players. We’ve focused on the routes of the two winners and how they managed to progress through to the finals and ultimately secure the titles.

Pool stages:

World No.2 Nouran Gohar was drawn in a tough group alongside rival Hania El Hammamy, England’s Georgina Kennedy and the always dangerous Nour El Tayeb. Gohar showed just how confident she is at the moment as she recorded three 2-0 wins to emphatically move through to the semi-finals. Gohar opened with a win over Kennedy and despite a strong second game from the Englishwoman, Gohar won the sudden death point to win 11-10.

Gohar then turned her attention to the Egyptian pair, El Hammamy and El Tayeb. Gohar used her blistering hitting and new tactic of volleying the ball high up the court to great effect as she dominated proceedings against both players, not giving them any opportunities to showcase their own undeniable talents. 2-0 to Gohar in both matches to round off a perfect three days of squash.

Men’s top seed Ali Farag faced tough opposition in his group as three former champions of the event all lay in waiting for the World No.1. 2018/19 winner Karim Abdel Gawad was first up for Farag on day one. A confident, assured performance from Farag saw him hardly miss a corner as he won 2-0 to start his campaign with maximum points.

Another battle with reigning champion Mostafa Asal was next up for Farag, a repeat of the recent British Open final, where Asal revealed in five games. Farag was clearly wanting to put down a marker against his younger compatriot and won 11-10, 11-6 in 33 minutes to book his place in the semis with a match to spare. Farag’s final pool match was due to be played against England’s Mohamed Elshorbagy but the World No.8 was forced to withdraw after sustaining an injury.

Semi-Finals:

Gohar was first up on semis day, looking to secure a place in a sixth final in her last seven events with Belgium’s Nele Gilis standing in her way. The Belgian raced out to a 6-1 lead in the opening game, playing aggressive, high paced squash which seemed to catch Gohar slightly flat footed. It wasn’t long before ‘the Terminator’ was back level however and she ran through to close the game out 11-9 to earn a 1-0 lead.

The Egyptian picked up right where she left off in game two and started to dominate proceedings. The hard hitting squash combined with sharp movement made life very difficult for Gilis who lost the game 11-6, sending the defending champion through to the final.

The final action of the night came from Ali Farag and Paul Coll as the World No.1 and 3 squared off for the fifth and final time this season. Coll held the 3-2 advantage in the season’s head-to-head and Farag was hoping to equalise to reach a staggering 13th final of the season.

The first game was intense and hard fought with both players determined to not give the other an inch around the middle or allow any opportunities to gather momentum. Farag led 10-7 and looked sure to take the opener but back came Coll to level at 10-10. Both had chances in the sudden death rally but it was Farag who feathered in a beautiful forehand drop to take the game and place one foot in the final.

Farag set his stall out early in the second game and started to pick Coll off around the middle of the court. The New Zealand No.1 lost his accuracy slightly which allowed the top seed to move him into all four corners and put him under some serious pressure. Farag marched on to 10-3 but it was only on his fourth match ball that he converted to set up another final with Mostafa Asal.

Finals:

The women’s final opened play on finals day with the familiar match up of Nouran Gohar and Nour ElSherbini taking centre stage once again. Gohar had beaten ElSherbini three times in a row heading into the final, the best run that Gohar has ever had against the 7x World Champion.

The pair exchanged quality rallies and winners in the first game with ElSherbini just doing enough to move ahead on the scoreboard late in the game to take it 11-7. Gohar returned with fire in her eyes in game two, determined to impose herself on the T and make the match tough for the top seed. ‘the Terminator’ started to find a devastating length and paired that with fast volleys to drag ElSherbini from corner to corner. Gohar stormed the second to equalise, winning 11-2.

Two intense games followed with both players trading blows point after point. Gohar earned the first game ball at 10-9 and after a nail biting rally, closed it out with another backhand volley kill. The fourth game followed a similar pattern and the score did exactly what the crowd wanted, it reached a sudden death point with the title on the line. ElSherbini needed this point to stay in the match but after a loose backhand was given a stroke to Gohar, the match was over. Another 3-1 win for Gohar over ElSherbini, a 25th win in a row and a fifth title in a row.

The men’s final followed the women’s action with a repeat of the British Open final between Farag and Asal ready to entertain the Seattle crowd. Farag was yet to win a World Tour Finals title, one of the only major events that the Egyptian still had left on his bucket list. Asal however, was after his fourth consecutive win at the event.

Farag looked sharp and focused in the first game and dominated the middle of the court, volleying at every opportunity. The movement of Asal was being asked questions but the 22-year-old didn’t look to be firing on all cylinders just yet. Farag lead 8-4 and ran through to take the opener 11-5 and draw first blood.

The pair returned to court for game two but after just 7 points, Asal shook the hand of Farag, withdrawing from the contest due to an injury that he picked up in the pool match against Farag earlier in the week. Certainly not the way that Farag would have wanted to win his first World Tour Finals but the title rounds off an incredible season for the Egyptian.