Qatar Classic: Story of 2023

With the second Platinum-level event of the season, the QTerminals Qatar Classic 2024, just around the corner, we’ve taken a look back at last year’s edition of the event, in which Hania El Hammamy and Ali Farag were crowned the champions in Doha.

Last year’s Qatar Classic saw the return of the women’s event for the first time since 2015 and several heavyweight clashes and upsets take place in the men’s draw to entertain the Doha crowd in one of the most famous squash venues, the Khalifa Squash Complex.

This year’s QTerminals Qatar Classic gets underway on Monday 30 September, with 32 matches taking place across four courts on Day One, including the all-glass court.

Every second of action will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV, while you can keep up to date with all the latest news on the PSA Squash Tour by following the PSA on X, Facebook, Threads, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, or TikTok.

Round 1

In the men’s event, it was England’s Charlie Lee who caused the biggest upset on day one as the World No.45 produced a terrific performance as he defeated France’s World No.25 Gregoire Marche to advance to round two. Lee moved the ball around expertly on the glass court and found his accuracy on the backhand side, squeezing Marche several times down the left side and picking off the loose balls if he didn’t win the rally from that area in the first place.

Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam and Egypt’s teenage sensation Amina Orfi produced confident upsets on day one in the women’s draw. Subramaniam has slipped down the rankings due to her sustaining injuries in a car crash last summer but bounced back to beat Sana Ibrahim in straight games. Orfi was also up against Egyptian opposition as she needed four games to beat Nadine Shahin and advance to round two.

Round 2

The top seeds entered the fray for round two of the championships with several high calibre matches set to take place. The standout fixture saw New Zealand’s Paul Coll exit the competition at the hands of Walels’ Joel Makin. The pair battled for a total of 92 minutes on court and Makin sealed the win in four games to move into the last 16.

The pick of the women’s matches in round two was an all-Egyptian teenage battle as Amina Orfi and Fayrouz Aboelkheir went head to head in a feisty clash on one of the side courts. The match went all the way to a fifth game with all five games reaching tiebreaks. Orfi trailed 2-0 but fought back incredibly to eventually take the decider 14-12 and move into round three.

Round 3

A big upset took place in the women’s draw in round three as Belgium’s Tinne Gilis downed No.4 seed Joelle King, coming back from 2-0 down in the process. King captured the opening two games both 12-10 but after Gilis narrowly pulled one back by winning the third game 11-9, the tide quickly turned. The Belgian No.2 found her accuracy and had too much energy for the New Zealander. Her win ensured two unseeded players would be heading to the quarter finals after Salma Hany defeated Nour El Tayeb earlier in the event.

The match of the tournament and some may say the match of the season took place in round three in the men’s event as Egyptian Youssef Ibrahim looked to score another Qatar Classic upset against Mohamed Elshorbagy. The match had everything with both players throwing all they had into coming out on top. Elshorbagy twice took the lead but was pegged back by the dangerous Ibrahim. Despite looking completely depleted of energy, Elshorbagy managed to use his tactical nouse to pull ahead in the fifth and win 11-7.

Elsewhere, home hero Abdulla Al-Tamimi bowed out at the hands of Tarek Momen in an entertaining four game clash whilst Scotland’s Greg Lobban claimed one of the biggest wins of his career by beating Victor Crouin to reach his first Platinum event quarter final.

Quarter Finals

As play reached the quarter final stage, England’s Mohamed Elshorbagy was at the forefront of the drama once again as he lost out in controversial style to Mazen Hesham. Elshorbagy took a 2-0 lead and looked sure to be moving into another semi-final in Doha, but back came ‘the Falcon’. His error count reduced massively and winners started to flow putting the former World Champion in all sorts of trouble. The score reached 11-10 to Hesham in the fifth game. Elshorbagy had been warned already by referee Jason Foster about being ready to receive serve and as Hesham served for the match, Elshorbagy seemed to both try and play the shot and stop at the same time. The point was awarded to Hesham much to Elshorbagy’s frustration. A first semi-final of the season for Hesham. Elias, Makin and Farag were the other winners on quarter final day.

USA’s Amanda Sobhy scored a big win against Nouran Gohar in the women’s event to take her through to the semi-finals. Gohar didn’t look to be at her fighting best but even a struggling Gohar is difficult to beat. Sobhy used her touch at the front of the court to drag Gohar out of position several times and recorded a 3-0 win.

There was also a big win for Belgium’s Tinne Gilis who capitalised on a great opportunity to reach the last four, beating Salma Hany in four games. Gilis and Sobhy were joined by the remaining seeds Hania El Hammamy and Nour ElSherbini as they all hunted down the title.

Semi-Finals

El Hammamy faced USA’s Sobhy in the first women’s semi-final. Sobhy had downed top seed and World No.2 Nouran Gohar in the previous round and was obviously in superb form. El Hammamy wasn’t in bad form herself but had a frightening determination about her as the match started. She hardly put a foot wrong in the opening two games as  she captured them 11-4, 11-6 to place one foot in the final. Despite a better showing from Sobhy in the third, El Hammamy managed to hang tough in the latter stages and convert it 12-10 to set up a final with Nour El Sherbini, who was the runner-up the last time a women’s event took place in Qatar, eight years previous. ElSherbini needed only three games and 25 minutes to end Tinne Gilis’ run.

Ali Farag was up against Wales’ Joel Makin in the first men’s semi-final as he looked to reach his sixth Platinum event final in a row. The match was likely to be attack versus defence with Farag dictating a lot of the play and Makin retrieving. This was the case for large parts but credit has to be given to the Welshman who looked to have worked on his short game and did trouble Farag in patches of the match, though he couldn’t sustain any consistent pressure. After 48 minutes, it was the World No.1 who converted match ball in the third game to move into his 60th tour final. Another final bout with Diego Elias awaited after the Peruvian downed Mazen Hesham in straight games.

Finals:

Like any match between the World’s top three women, the rallies between El Hammamy and El Sherbini were intense. All four corners were being utilised at a fast pace by both players. The match was free flowing and full of quality in all areas and was a joy to watch for the Doha crowd. 

El Sherbini took a 2-1 lead by stepping in front of her younger compatriot and dictating play around the middle of the court. She was also able to move onto some of El Hammamy’s loose drop shots to fire the ball into the space.

The World No.3 was not going to go away easily, however, and she returned to court for the fourth game with that steely look in her eyes and looked willing to leave absolutely everything out there to force a fifth game. She continued to play her aggressive brand of squash and was rewarded with an 11-9 win to force a decider. 

El Hammamy got off to the perfect start in the fifth and led 7-1 with El Sherbini struggling to find any momentum. As the score reached 10-6 match ball to the No.3 seed, a forehand volley kill was just too short for the World Champion to reach. An emotional Hania El Hammamy dropped to the floor after the embrace with her opponent – another Platinum win for the 23-year-old.

In a repeat of the recent Paris Squash 2023 final, it was Egypt’s Farag versus Peru’s Elias for the latest Platinum men’s title. 

The Egyptian set himself up with three game balls at 10-7 in game one but was pegged back by “The Peruvian Puma’ as he drew level at 10-10. Farag would squander another two game balls before Elias had his turn to convert the game at 13-12. Farag responded strongly to save that game ball then won the next two points to take the all-important opener 15-13.

After Farag impressively doubled his lead by winning game two 11-5, Elias had it all to do as he returned to court for the third. Farag led 8-5 in the game and with just three points needed, looked sure to be capturing a straight games win to lift the trophy. The No.2 seed miraculously ran straight through from that point, winning the next six points to breathe more life in the contest.

From 4-3 in the fourth game Farag always led and showed no signs of slowing down in his pursuit of the title. He reached 10-8 match ball and despite Elias saving one match ball, an accurate backhand kill sealed the fate of Elias and gave Farag the victory and the second Platinum title of the season.