Men’s World Champs Final: The Stats & How To Watch

The final of the PSA Men’s World Championship 2019-2020 take place today, with action beginning at 17:30 (GMT) at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex as the a new name gets added to the prestigious trophy.

The final will see World No.3 Tarek Momen take on World No.5 Paul Coll in Doha, with the winner taking home the biggest prize in the men’s game.

You can catch all the action live from VENUE on SQUASHTV (Rest of World), Eurosport Player (Europe only), and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour (Indian sub-continent only).

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

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

Egypt’s World No.3 Tarek Momen takes on New Zealand’s World No.5 Paul Coll tonight, with both men looking to claim the title for the first time in their careers.

The pair have met six times prior to this final on the PSA World Tour, with both men having won three times. Two of the Kiwi’s three victories have come in finals, as he lifted the Channel VAS Championships in 2016 and the Canary Wharf Classic in 2019 after defeating ‘the Viper’.

For the second season in a row, Momen is into the final of the World Championships, but he will be looking to avenge his defeat to World No.1 Ali Farag in the final in Chicago eight months ago.

Momen has not been at his best this week, but he has been able to fight his way through the draw. He beat Raphael Kandra and Mazen Hesham in the early rounds, before having to come from behind to defeat home favourite Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi 3-2 in the last 16.

The Egyptian was then able to dispatch Diego Elias in the quarter finals in just 37 minutes, before bouncing back from losing the first game to the German Tree-Chopper, Simon Rösner in his semi final, producing some of the best squash he has played all week to reach the final.

“I have been happy with my overall performance this week. It is never easy to make it to the final of the World Championships. A lot of nerves kick in and for me to be able to get past all of the challenges I have faced is something I am very pleased with,” Momen explained ahead of the final.

“I am very happy with the way I have been conducting myself on court and the way I have been pushing myself over the last two years and I have had very consistent results overall. I try not to think what I have achieved, I just keep going and keep pushing and then the results just materialise.

“With any other player, I thought he would be feeling it, but with Paul, you can never rule it out. I remember a few years ago when I played him in a final and he had played at least three 3-2 matches back-to-back and it does not look like it affects him. I will plan that I am playing a fresh opponent, and I have to base my gameplan on that.”

For Coll, on the other hand, this is his first World final, and he is the first New Zealander to make it all the way since Ross Norman, when he won the title back in 1986.

‘Superman’ started off his tournament in quick fashion, as he needed just an hour combined to defeat Qatari wildcard Hamad Al-Amri and Spanish stalwart Borja Golan in the early rounds of the tournament.

He then came through a titanic tussle against Omar Mosaad in the last 16, in a contest that lasted 119 minutes, before defeating Zahed Salem in straight games in the quarters. Coll needed another five-game thriller to defeat a third Egyptian, in Marwan ElShorbagy, and he has spent over five hours on court throughout the event.

Will the Kiwi be able to beat a fourth Egyptian in a row to become the first World Champion from his country since 1986? Or can Momen take his first World title to keep the Egyptian dominance going?

“It has been an amazing week. I had a really tough match in Round 3 against Omar [Mosaad] and it could have gone either way, so I could be back home watching this, but I am here in the final. The body is not feeling too bad physically, so mentally it is just a big push today, but with the occasion, I am sure the adrenaline will kick in,” Coll said ahead of his first Worlds final.

“Everyone knows Ross Norman for that match when he beat Jahangir [Khan] and ended his run, so to follow in his footsteps is just amazing and because it has been such a long time, there has been such an amazing amount of support from back home and it has been overwhelming. It is an amazing feeling to get that sort of support from my home country.

“It is going to be tough. Tarek has been playing well all week. He had a tough match against Abdulla [Al Tamimi] earlier in the week but it is going to be fast. He is going to attack the front of the court so I will have to be accurate with my squash and try to hurt him when I can. I am just hoping for the best so I can be proud of my performance.”