British Open: Story of 2023

As the 2024 British Open is just around the corner, we’re taking a look back at the 2023 event which saw Nour ElSherbinj claim the women’s title in strong style whilst the men’s title went to fellow Egyptian Ali Farag for the very first time after 3 runner up finishes at the prestigious event.

This years championships get underway on Sunday 2 June with 32 matches taking place across the Edgbaston Priory Club and the Rep Theatre in Birmingham. 

All the action will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV. 

Round One:

All matches from the opening round took place at Edgbaston Priory last year, 32 matches across four courts to kick off another exciting event on British soil. Hong Kong duo Tsz Kwan Lau and Tomato came through bruising five set clashes with Shahjahan Khan and Hana Moataz to advance to round two.

England’s Curtis Malik and Katie Maliff scored the wins of the round however as they knocked out Malaysian duo Eain Yow Ng and Rachel Arnold to add more home interest to the second round.

Round two:

The top seeds entered the fray on day two with places in the last 16 up for grabs in the largest PSA event on English soil.

There were many entertaining clashes on day two with the round one winners determined to claim scalps over the higher seeded players. France’s No.8 seed Victor Crouin looked to be heading for an early exit as he trailed Raphael Kandra 2-0 but managed to find his top form to win the next 3 games emphatically, securing his place in the next round. 

As he so often does, Karim Abdel Gawad started slightly sluggishly against 2018 champion Miguel Rodriguez but managed to find a way past the Colombian after five games in 62 minutes.

The women’s event also saw plenty of drama as an all-USA clash between Amanda Sobhy and Olivia Clyne went the way of the No.5 seed in a five set thriller. Clyne had been in superb form and lead 2-1 but two games of class from Sobhy sealed the win for the USA No.1.

Round three:

The third round of the 2023 British Open was split across two days with all action taking place on the all-glass court at the Rep Theatre. There was only one upset on the first day of the last 16 as Karim Abdel Gawad came through in the heavyweight clash with 3x British Open champion Mohamed Elshorbagy. As well as the camps of the two players, another person with added interest in the result was Peru’s Diego Elias, who needed a Gawad win to climb guarantee himself top spot in the World Rankings the following Monday. A new World No.1 for the PSA World Tour.

The new World No.1 sealed his new status with a win on day two of round three over England’s Nathan Lake. Elias joined all the the other seeds in moving through to the quarter finals.

Quarter Finals

As the event reached the last eight, play was again split over two days. The first day of quarter final action featured six Egyptians all hoping to score places in the semi-finals. New Zealand’s Joelle King was first to move into the last four as she recovered from 2-1 down to see off Rowan Elaraby. She would be joined by Ali Farag and Nouran Gohar whilst Mazen Hesham scored a win over compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad to the day to a close.

The next day, the packed out Birmingham crowd really got their moneys worth as they were treated to three of the four matches going all the way to five games as the semi-finalists were decided. Nour Elsherbini was pushed all the way by home favourite Georgina Kennedy but managed to come through. Soon to be World No.1 Diego Elias found himself 2-0 down to France’s Victor Crouin but strong play by the Peruvian enabled him to find his way back into the match, eventually closing out the fifth game 11-9. USA’s Amanda Sobhy scored an upset by beating No.3 seed and defending champion Hania El Hammamy in straight games whilst 2x champion Paul Coll rounded out the quarters by beating England’s last home hope Marwan Elshorbagy.

Semi-Finals

It was business as usual for Nouran Gohar in the first semi-final as she brutally despatched Joelle King in just over half an hour to book herself in another British Open final. She would take on rival Nour Elsherbini in the final after the former champion was forced to win the hard way again against Amanda Sobhy. The Egyptian lead 2-1 but the dogged American fought back to equalise at 2-2 but couldn’t carry that momentum into the decider as the No.2 seed advanced.

Mazen Hesham had scored a win over Ali Farag the month previous at the Optasia Championships and was looking to repeat that in the first men’s semi-final to earn a first Platinum final appearance. His luck ran out however as the dominant Farag was in fine form and controlled the majority of the contest to win in four games. Friends and sometimes training partners Paul Coll and Diego Elias went head to head in the final semi of the night and in a topsy turvy affair, it was the Peruvian who came out on top. Elias hardly put a foot wrong in the first two games as he won 11-4, 11-3 to place one foot in the final. Despite Coll showing his qualities in the third game to extend the match, Elias regrouped to win the last game 11-1 and move into another final.

Finals

Nouran Gohar versus Nour ElSherbini will go down in squash history as one of the best rivalries and another chapter of the story was written last year at the Rep Theatre. A superb display from Nour Elsherbini saw her control all areas of the court, constantly using her holds and deception to stop the movement of Gohar and not allow her any rhythm in the match. 3-0 to the No.2 seed and a fourth British Open title for her.

Ali Farag had lost in three British Open finals, whilst Diego Elias was featuring in his first ever, winning this title would have meant a lot to both but there could only be one winner. The Egyptian took a nail-biting opening game in a tiebreak 13-11 before Elias regrouped to equalise. Quality rally after quality rally unfolded with the pair trying to out manoeuvre one another constantly. There’s not many better at constructing painful rallies than Diego Elias, but unfortunately for him…Ali Farag is one of them. Elias was made to cover a lot fo ground which was too much in the end for the Peruvian, taking Farag to a first British Open title and all whilst fasting for Ramadan.