El Gouna Titles See Farag & Gohar Reclaim World No.1 Rankings

Title successes at the El Gouna International will see Ali Farag and Nouran Gohar reclaim the World No.1 rankings on Monday.

Farag beat defending champion Mostafa Asal 3/1 in the men's final of the PSA World Tour Platinum event at the El Gouna Conference and Culture Center to make it four trophy wins in succession, while Gohar defeated Belgium's Nele Gilis in straight games to secure her maiden El Gouna title.

Farag's incredible form has seen him win the British Open, PSA World Championship, the Manchester Open and now the El Gouna International, as he stretched his unbeaten run to a career-best 20 matches.

Coming into the men's final, Asal was up against it following a mammoth 110-minute semi-final against world No.4 Mohamed ElShorbagy, with the pair finally walking off court in the early hours of the morning.

The 22-year-old really had to draw on all of his remaining energy reserves and relinquished control of the first game despite holding a 9-7 lead, with a big push from Farag seeing him punish his compatriot.

Asal - who beat Farag in the semi-finals of last year's event - was able to fight on in the second game, drawing level following a tie-break victory, but he faded rapidly in the third as Farag restored a one-game cushion in confident fashion.

That broke Asal's resistance and the fourth game was a procession, with Farag in complete control as he dropped just two points against an ailing opponent.

Farag now has 33 PSA titles to his name - becoming the joint-second most successful Egyptian alongside the legendary Amr Shabana - while it also marks his fifth triumph of the season. The The 31-year-old from Cairo will also overtake Peru's Diego Elias at the top of the PSA World Rankings on Monday.

"I'm very proud with how I've dealt with the past couple of months and I'm very happy with the way I performed today," said Farag.

"It's never easy to play against Mostafa, he's such a champion. How many people in history can say that they have been the world No.1 and the best player in their sport at the age of 21, it's unbelievable what he has achieved already. I'm happy I'm at the back end of my career because I don't want to battle it out with him for many years!"

It was fourth time lucky for Gohar to land her maiden El Gouna International title, having been a runner-up in 2019, 2021 and 2022, but ensured she would walk away with the trophy on this occasion after overcoming Gilis in 58 minutes.

Gilis was the first Belgian player ever to appear in the final of a major PSA event following her sensational 3/0 dismantling of current world No.1 and World Champion Nour El Sherbini in the semi-finals. The 27-year-old came out firing as she hit her targets with conviction to take an early 5-4 lead in the opening game.

Gohar was backing up after contesting a mammoth 107-minute battle with rival Hania El Hammamy the night before - the fifth longest women's match of all time - and she took a while to find her rhythm. There was a short break in play due to the ball flying out of the court following a shot from Gilis, which halted the Belgian's momentum. Gohar took full advantage as she won seven of the next eight points to take a one-game lead.

The second game followed a similar pattern as Gilis again came out swinging and attacked with no fear, but the intensity of Gohar's hitting soon told as she dispatched her opponent clinically to double her lead.

Both players traded points in a back and forth third game, with Gohar coming from 9-8 down to ultimately seal her first Platinum title since October's US Open.

The win means that Gohar has lifted her 22nd PSA Tour title and, like Farag, it's her fifth title of the season. It will also see her replace El Sherbini as the world No.1, ending her fellow Egyptian's four-week reign at the summit, with Gohar ascending to the top ranking for the third time in her career.

"Nele had an unbelievable tournament," conceded Gohar afterwards.

"I saw it coming, she's put in the work and it's very inspirational. We've known each other since juniors and for her to be playing like this was far from enjoyable for me today! With the weather, her retrieving everything and the pressure, it was a bit too much.

"It wasn't the prettiest squash from my side maybe, but I'm super proud of myself with how I fought hard this week. This will be the third time that I'm World No.1 in my career, but it's the first time after winning a tournament, so it feels amazing. With the new weekly ranking system, it's so nice, you win a tournament on Friday and on Monday you're world No.1."

The 2022/23 PSA World Tour season concludes with the World Tour Finals in Cairo, Egypt, which take place from 20 - 25 June.