Victor Crouin and Nele Gilis Win Open de France de Squash Titles – Player Reaction

The finals of the Open de France de Squash take place tonight, with action in one of squash’s most unique venues, Hangar 24 in Nantes, beginning from 21:00 (GMT+2).

Both the women’s final – contested by Belgian sisters Nele and Tinne Gilis – and the men’s final – which sees France’s Victor Crouin take on Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy – will be best-of-five format and streamed live on SQUASHTV.

We’ll be bringing you the latest player reaction right here! You can also keep up to date with live scores from the event on our live scores page and we’ll be bringing you updates from our social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

You can also keep up with the live scores from the event here.

Here’s the Order of Play
(All times are local – GMT+2)

Brilliant Nele Too Strong for Sister Tinne

In the women’s final, Nele Gilis was in brilliant form to put younger sister Tinne to the sword and claim her first PSA World Tour Bronze title.

Despite being the top seed, Nele went into the final with Tinne ranked one place below her at World No.13, with Tinne winning their last meeting – which came in the final of the Challenger Tour’s Annecy Rose Open in April this year – 3-0.

It looked like Nele was in for more pain at the hands of her sister, with Tinne the first to draw blood in an entertaining first game as she raced into a 6-2 lead on the back of with her dynamic attacking play. Nele, however, responded brilliantly, with increasingly accurate play to the back corners starving her younger sister of attacking opportunities as Nele moved ahead at 7-6 before taking the first game 11-9.

Nele’s brilliant defensive play again proved the difference in the second game, with the 26-year-old heaping pressure on her sister with relentless retrievals as she pulled away from 5-5 to an 11-6 winner.

Tinne appeared to be struggling with an injury in the third game, which Nele was able to take comfortably 11-3 to win her first title since the Challenger-level Squash on Fire Open in July 2021.

Afterwards, Gilis said: “Nantes has always been a very special place for me. I always play so well here, in front of this crowd. I love coming here and today, playing in my biggest final ever, against my sister and in front of my mum and all these amazing people, is so special and I can’t quite find the words right now! 

“I honestly came here with no expectations. I just wanted to play good squash and see where it got me. Winning this tournament, I could only dream of it. To win here in Nantes, two times, is incredible. I can’t find the words.

“The energy you all gave me this week is amazing and thank you so much to everyone. I also want to thank Tinne for a really good match. She beat me last time so I really wanted to have my revenge today. She’s been playing so well and I almost didn’t believe that I could beat her. But I’m so happy and proud of her.

“Lastly, I want to thank all of the volunteers for making this event possible. It’s the best event on tour, without a doubt! I want to thank you guys so much because you do it for the love of the sport. It’s incredible, thank you so much!”

Tinne added: Tinne: “I just want to thank the crowd and everyone from the organisation. This tournament’s been amazing as always. I really enjoyed my whole week here. It’s been amazing from the beginning until the end and I’m very happy and proud to be in the final today against my sister. Obviously I’m sad I didn’t win, but happy that at least one of us won! I’m happy my family was here and it just makes it extra special. The support was unreal and I cannot wait for the next one. Thank you all so much, you’re amazing!”

Result

[1] Nele Gilis (BEL) beat [2] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-3 (49m)

Brilliant Crouin Comeback Delights Crowd

In a pulsating men’s final that swung back and forth, French No.4 seed Victor Crouin delighted the home crowd by downing Egyptian No.1 seed Marwan ElShorbagy.

In a mirror image of the first game of the women’s final, ElShorbagy had looked the more assured player as he took a 6-2 lead in the opener thanks to tidy racket work.

Crouin, however, then put together a barnstorming run as he moved up the court and reeled off winner after winner. To the delight of the raucous and partisan home crowd, Crouin won nine consecutive points to incredibly take the first game 11-6.

Crouin looked confident at the beginning of the second game before his accuracy faltered and a resurgent ElShorbagy pulled level with an 11-9 win.

Game three saw some of the very best of ‘the Jackal,’ whose tactical acumen was on full display as the experienced Egyptian sapped the physicality out of play and moved ahead in the match with a convincing 11-6 win.

The 29-year-old continued to dominate the early stages of the fourth game and at 7-4 up was well placed to kick on for a first title of the season.

Crouin, however, finally rediscovered his blistering form from game one as he wrestled back the momentum to blast his way level with an 11-8 win to force a fifth game.

The Frenchman nudged ahead 2-0 in the final game, but was quickly dragged back by ElShorbagy, who took advantage of Crouin’s suspect shot selection to move 3-2 up. The pair then traded the lead as the match built towards a nerve-wracking conclusion.

With the scores at 9-9, the title was there for the taking for either man. Crouin was the first to make a move and had championship ball at 10-9, but was unable to convert. The Frenchman then had another at 11-10, earned with a spectacular volley, and this time made no mistake, with the 23-year-old winning his biggest title to date with a 12-10 win.

After the match, Crouin said: “I want to thank all the people watching on SQUASHTV and all of the SQUASHTV crew who are doing an amazing job through the whole week, from morning until the end of the matches! Thank you for trying to improve the game and making sure that everyone can watch our sport from anywhere in the world.

“I want to thank the organisation, everyone behind this event, the volunteers, the sponsors, the directors, it was my first time playing in the main venue as I’ve always played at the squash club, which is great, but I’m happy to play in this kind of venue and with you all supporting me on court. 

“It’s been an incredible atmosphere during the whole week, from the very first matches. Thank you [MC Romain Suisui] for your work through the whole week, you’re really helping to make this event even better, improving every year. The English is improving during the event, which is great! 

“Thanks to Marwan, hats off to him because it’s definitely tough to play in front of a French crowd.”

“You guys have been tough, although I heard some ‘Come on Marwan’ which I didn’t really like, it pissed me off and helped me to keep going!” he joked. 

“He’s been World No.3 and has been trying to get back to the top of the rankings and is always trying to find ways to improve. He loves this game and that’s why he keeps going. We’re going to play in the future again, next week [at the Egyptian Open] possibly. I’m going to celebrate this win and then get ready for the next one.

“Thanks Dad for everything you do for me. He’s been watching matches whether it’s 8am or 2am, he’s always there behind the screen watching me and preparing me for matches the whole day. He’s very tough during my training blocks and we often argue, but that’s a dad-son relationship I guess! This season is off to a great start and I hope we can keep this relationship going and he can move me to the World No.1 spot one day!”

ElShorbagy added: “First, I’d like to congratulate Victor for a great three weeks. He’s been playing incredible squash, reaching two finals and now winning this one. I want to congratulate him for this win and I’m sure we’ll be playing a lot more in the future. I want to congratulate him.

“I would like to thank the sponsors and the whole team for putting this together. This is my first time playing this event and I really loved every single second of it. It’s such an amazing atmosphere and more importantly I want to thank everyone who came today, even though you weren’t here to support me! As a player, this atmosphere is what we want and hopefully this event keeps getting bigger and better and hopefully I’ll see you next year!”

Result

[4] Victor Crouin (FRA) bt [1] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-2: 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10 (72m)