Farag Survives Makin Marathon To Make Grasshopper Final

World No.2 Ali Farag sensationally booked his place in the final of the 2025 Grasshopper Cup after downing world No.5 Joel Makin in an 80-minute 5-game blockbuster battle in the PSA Squash Tour Gold event at Zurich Hauptbahnhof.

Farag, a beaten finalist at this event back in 2017 when he lost out to Gregory Gaultier, came through a tough examination from the resilient Welshman to advance in five.

Both Farag and Makin played some sensational squash throughout all five games, but it was the tenacious defensive play from the Egyptian that helped him get over the line to a record a 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5 victory after 80 minutes.

"It's been eight years since I was last in the final here at the Grasshopper Cup against Greg Gaultier and he beat me 3/0, so I'm very happy get through today," he said.

"Joel and I played a brilliant match last week at El Gouna and I think this one even surpassed that one. The quality and the grit that we both showed, with the free-flowing squash, there were hardly any decisions throughout the whole match. I don't think that I used a single review which was so enjoyable to watch.

"I had to use every ounce of my head capacity to try and outsmart Joel today because he was playing very smartly and very physically as always. I had to resort on all sort of things, and I'm very happy that I did that.

"The ball wasn't as fast as yesterday. Yes, it is cold, but once you warm it up it is fine. With every review, with every court service, the ball goes quite cold and dead quite fast, but that is the beauty of our game. You can put a glass court in such a beautiful venue, and you have got to adapt to the conditions."

Farag will meet Diego Elias for the eighth time this season in the final - the fourth time where a piece of silverware will be up for grabs - after the reigning world champion downed Aly Abou Eleinen 3/1.

Despite Eleinen taking a lot out of Elias with lengthy exchanges in the first two games, the Peruvian dug deep to close out a 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-3 triumph in 48 minutes.

"I'm very happy to keep playing in this tournament. Yesterday I was almost out, so everything from now is a bonus," he said.

"I wasn't feeling that comfortable after the first game, so I tried to play smarter. I slowed the play down and tried to choose the right times to attack. So yeah, I'm really happy with that win."

Top seed Nouran Gohar and Sivasangari Subramaniam will contest the women's final in Zurich following their semi-final wins against Georgina Kennedy and Tinne Gilis, respectively.

Sivasangari is into a Gold-level final for the second time in her career, having won the London Classic last year where she famously ousted seven-time world champion Nour El Sherbini and world No.3 Hania El Hammamy on her way to lifting the title.

The Malaysian No.1 made a high volume of errors throughout, but also played some fantastic winners to defeat the tournament's No.2 seed 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 15-13 in just under an hour.

"Of course it was tight - it was close right up until the end. I made three silly errors when I had three match balls. I think in the end I just managed to keep my nerves, I managed to stay as positive as I could," Sivasangari said afterwards.

"I had my whole team behind me today so I'm really grateful for that. They kept me going and I'm really happy to be into the final. I've been trying to push myself to beat these players and it's coming.

"I just tried to stay positive [when I was 2/1 up]. Even when I'm down though I try to just take it one point at a time. We have had some close matches in the past, and I'm happy to winning it this time."

World No.1 Gohar's Grasshopper Cup debut will see her battle it out for the crown with Sivasangari after dispatching England No.1 Kennedy 3/1.

Gohar had never dropped a game to Kennedy on Tour from their previous nine matches, but the world No.7 levelled the match to break that streak. However, Gohar had too much fire power in her locker to seal the match 11-2, 8-11, 11-5, 11-1.

"Gina played incredibly well, especially in the second game. She is a really good friend of mine off the court and I have so much respect for her, so it is always a pleasure to play against her," she said post-match.

"I mean the comeback she had yesterday as well was incredible and I knew she had nothing to lose today and she would throw everything at me. She hit nicks from overhead and stuff like that so it was really enjoyable to play against her when she's playing like that, and find a way to beat her."