Gaultier & El Welily Win Windy City Silverware

France's world No.3 Gregory Gaultier claimed the 36th title of his PSA World Tour career after defeating Egypt's Marwan Elshorbagy in the men's final of the Guggenheim Partners & EquiTrust Life Insurance Company Windy City Open - while Raneem El Welily prevailed in the earlier all-Egyptian final to beat world No.1 Nour El Sherbini to retain the women's title for a third successive year.

Gaultier, competing in his 75th Tour final, has been in scintillating form so far in 2017. After finishing as runner-up at January's Tournament of Champions and winning the Swedish Open in February, the 34-year-old proved too much for Elshorbagy, the 23-year-old appearing in a World Series final for the first time in his career.

The Frenchman started slowly, looking nervous as he struggled to settle in an opener which went the way of a composed-looking Elshorbagy, ranked six in the world. But Gaultier's big game experience came to the fore as he pushed on to secure the honours and his 13th PSA World Series title 5-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-4.

"I am really happy - it's amazing to win these kind of major titles so it will be nice to see my name on this beautiful trophy once again," said Gaultier, who also won here in 2014.

"It is a lovely place to play and I have been coming here for a long time. I have a lot of friends here and have always enjoyed coming back.

"Today he caused me a lot of trouble in the first game. He has got a lot of confidence from this week winning some big matches, especially from beating his brother the world No.1. He proved this week that he is a top player - he came through five tough matches to reach this stage, which was a tougher week than me.

"I had to find a solution and to put more pace into it and get in control because when I was playing at his rhythm he was just a better player than me."

El Welily meanwhile, in a repeat of the 2016 final, put in the best performance of her year so far to stop higher-ranked El Sherbini 10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7.

The world No.3 played superb squash from the off, using her backhand drop with devastation to punish any loose play from El Sherbini. Despite losing a close first game 10-12 it looked comfortable for El Welily as she returned to the form that took her to world No.1 in 2015.

"I'm very, very happy, it's fantastic to win here again for the third time," said El Welily.

"I'm glad with how I performed after a tough match yesterday and I didn't really expect to play that well. She played really well in the first game and I wasn't sharp enough.

"But half way through the first I started to find my spots and my angles. Even though I lost it I knew that I was on my way to finding the right plan.

"Chicago feels like my lucky city - I'm always happy to be here."

During the trophy presentation it was announced the 2018 Windy City Open will become the most lucrative PSA World tournament ever, boasting a $500,000 prize fund that will be split equally between Men and Women.