Gohar pulled the scores back to close the gap, but could not chalk off the lead
By Ijaz Ahmad Khan
BIRMINGHAM: World No.1 Nouran Gohar has defended her Gillen Markets British Open title after fighting back twice to win an epic five-game victory against reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
The Egyptian pair have been a dominant force in squash for the last decade, spending almost 93 months at World No.1 between them since 2016.
Over the years, the Egyptian duo have contested some epic matches, with today their 40th meeting on the PSA Squash Tour.
Despite El Sherbini’s superior 25-14 head-to-head record, Gohar went into the match having won their last two encounters, in October’s U.S. Open and December’s Hong Kong Open.
In a tight opening game, El Sherbini, as she has all week, made a rapid start. The 29-year-old took a commanding 7-3 lead early on as she looked relaxed on court in short sharp rallies. Gohar pulled the scores back to close the gap, but could not chalk off the lead, with El Sherbini clinching game ball at the first opportunity at 10-9 to take a crucial lead.
Gohar hit back in game two, catching El Sherbini wrong-footed with some excellent boasts to as she won six consecutive points to earn three game balls at 10-7. El Sherbini hung on though, saving the first two and then the crucial third following a video referee decision to take the match into a tie-break.
Gohar didn’t let the momentum shift derail her, though, earning a fourth game ball with a brave winner from mid-court and then blasting past the 29-year-old with her trademark power to draw level.
El Sherbini made another quick start to game three before being pegged back at 6-6 by Gohar. ‘The Warrior Princess’ opted to keep up the attack, though, playing some brilliant winners as she regained the lead with an 11-7 win.
Gohar battled hard in game four, but struggled to deal with El Sherbini’s attacks as the World No.2 played winner after winner.
At 8-7 up and just three points from the title, disaster struck for El Sherbini. The Egyptian, diving for the ball after being caught out of position, landed heavily on her right shoulder, signalling straight away that she needed physio treatment.
El Sherbini returned to court, but hit gingerly, with Gohar going game ball up at 10-9 as she looked to force a fifth game.
After seeing one game ball lost on a controversial ‘out’ decision, Gohar regathered to come through her second tie-break, taking the epic into a deciding fifth game after a 19-minute 13-11 win.
Gohar looked tense early on in game four, with some brilliant deception from El Sherbini wrong-footing the 27-year-old several times early on.
The change of pace decimated El Sherbini’s defence and confidence and, in a stunning turnaround, Gohar rattled off the points relentlessly fought back from 1-4 down to take the title with an 11-4 victory.
After the match, Gohar said: “I’m very competitive in practice matches and I hate losing against guys in practice matches! So, at 4-1 down, I said to myself ‘if this was a practice match, would I do?’
“I needed to think about it that way and the crowd pushed me so much, cheering for every good point and I wanted to give them more good shots and it definitely helped.
“I definitely enjoyed myself out there today and it was very tough.
“Nour El Sherbini is incredible and I was thinking about it yesterday, sharing this rivalry with her. Not a lot of people know this but the first major we played against each other was 2016 when we were 18 and 20. That’s just crazy to think about and sharing this rivalry is a big honour for me, she brings the best out of me and I miss these big matches. I wanted to get everything out today.”
Result: GillenMarkets British Open final
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) 3-2: 9-11, 12-10, 7-11, 13-11, 11-4 (79m)
The GillenMarkets British Open 2025 took place between May 31 – 8 June on SQUASHTV and select broadcast partners.
The next event on the PSA Squash Tour calendar is the SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals 2024-2025, which is taking place in Toronto, Canada from 23-27 June. Find out more on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, WhatsApp and LinkedIn.
