Season Review: Shocks of the Season – Part One

It was a season of drama on the PSA World Tour, with the world's best athletes competing in over 40 tournaments around the globe.

While there was no shortage of titles and glory for the game's top-ranked players, higher seeded players certainly didn't have it all their own way, with comebacks, shocks and upsets abound all year!

Read on for part one of our 'Shocks of the Season'

*Wildcard Aifa Azman Wins Malaysian Open*

At 19 years of age and ranked World No.69, expectations of promising up-and-comer Aifa Azman were muted at the Bronze-level Malaysian Open Squash Championships 2021.

Azman entered the home-court tournament, which boasted five of the world's top 20 players, facing an uphill task from the first round as the tournament wildcard.

Cue one of the all-time great championship runs.

Match after match, Azman dominated our coverage. She began with a rapid 3-0 win over World No.47 Mayar Hany, before blowing the tournament wide open when she came from 2-1 down to beat No.3 seed Yathreb Adel in the second round.

Next, it was the turn of World No.35 Hana Ramadan and No.5 seed Danielle Letourneau to fall, as Azman set up a final showdown with Egyptian top seed and World No.8 Salma Hany.

Despite the 61-place gap in the rankings, Azman attacked confidently from the start. After taking the first game 12-10, Azman powered on to take increasingly dominant 11-8 and 11-4 wins to secure her biggest title to date.

*The Comeback Kid: Asal Lifts U.S. Open Title*

While Asal was certainly no unknown quantity by the time the U.S. Open presented by Truist got underway in October 2021, with the 20-year-old having already won the PSA World Tour Finals and gone deep in several major tournaments, his run to collecting his first Platinum title was astounding.

Coming into the tournament as the World No.10 and No.8 seed, the Egyptian began with a fairly routine 3-0 over Spain's Iker Pajares Bernabeu, before battling back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to beat Baptiste Masotti.

Next came a statement 3-1 win over then-World No.3 Paul Coll in a brutal 103-minute encounter that left onlookers wondering whether Asal would have enough in the tank to face No.7 seed Diego Elias in the semi-final.

After racing into a 2-0 lead, Asal faltered as Elias came back strongly to level at 2-2. Somehow, despite looking exhausted, the Egyptian rallied from 7-2 behind and later two match balls down in a remarkable comeback to reach the final.

Once again, 'the Raging Bull' was pushed to his physical limits, this time by compatriot and World No.4 Tarek Momen. The World No.10 was second best for the first two games as Momen took a commanding lead, but came out reenergised found a new lease of life in the third and fourth games to draw level, spectacularly overturning a championship ball in the latter.

In the decider, Asal was unwavering as he paired defence with attack to claim a stunning 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-3 victory and become the tournament's youngest ever winner.

*Rapidly Improving El Tayeb Downs El Hammamy in Cairo*

Having only returned to the Tour in December 2021 after giving birth that summer, Egypt's former World No.3 Nour El Tayeb had already impressed with strong showings at the Gold-level CIB Squash Open Black Ball 2021 and the Bronze-level Squash on Fire Open 2022, before exiting the Platinum-level Windy City Open 2022 Presented by the Walter Family in the second round after a defeat to World No.13 Nele Gilis.

At the Platinum-level CIB Black Ball Open 2022 in March, though, El Tayeb showed the world she was not far from being back to her deadly best. Going into the tournament unseeded and ranked World No.68, El Tayeb stunned World No.3 Hania El Hammamy in the third round, fighting back from a game down to secure a memorable 3-1 win with a brilliant tactical display.

*Crouin Topples World No.1 Coll in Canary Wharf*

Perhaps the single result that set the cat amongst the pigeons more so than any other match, was World No.21 Victor Crouin's stunning defeat of World No.1 Paul Coll at this year's GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic.

Going into the second round match, France's Crouin was winless in four attempts against the Kiwi, who just days earlier had officially been crowned as World No.1 as well as capturing the Platinum-level Windy City Open 2022 Presented by the Walter Family.

This time, though, it would be Crouin's moment, with the 22-year-old stunning Coll with a pair of 11-7 wins to claim a famous victory under the best-of-three format.

*Fantastic Fiechter Stuns Sobhy and Gilis to Reach U.S. Open Semi-Final*

Going into the 2021 U.S. Open presented by Truist, the USA's World No.20 Olivia Fiechter had never been beyond the last 16 in a Platinum-level event.

If that was going to change, where better than in front of a passionate home crowd at the newly opened and state-of-the-art Arlen Specter US Squash Center?

After overcoming Egypt's Menna Hamed and Australia's Donna Lobban in straight games, an all-American showdown with US No.1 and World No.3 Amanda Sobhy beckoned.

Fiechter made a dream start, swatting Sobhy aside to take the first game 11-1, before her compatriot fought back. With the scores level at 2-2 (11-1, 8-11, 11-3, 8-11), Fiechter held her nerve in a nail-biting finish to take the crucial fifth game 11-9 to reach the quarter-final.

Facing talented World No.15 Gilis in the quarter-final, the 26-year-old – buoyed by passionate home support – recorded an impressive straight-games victory over the Belgian to reach a maiden Platinum semi-final.

While Fiechter would eventually lose that semi-final to then World No.2 Nouran Gohar, her incredible run helped her climb the world rankings, and she now sits at a career-best position of World No.10.