Khafagy Overcomes Serme In Santiago Open Final Thriller

Egypt's Malak Khafagy claimed the biggest title of her PSA Squash Tour career to date, denying France's Camille Serme a fairytale finale to her comeback season with success in an epic Santiago Open final in Spain.

36-year-old Serme returned to the PSA Squash Tour at the start of this season after initially retiring in 2022 and having a daughter in 2023, but was looking to put the icing on the cake of a stunning comeback campaign, in which she won two Challenger events, the GillenMarkets British Open qualifying tournament and the French nationals, losing only twice in the entire season before the Santiago De Compostela final.

The former world No.2 was also hoping to complete what would have been somewhat of a full-circle moment, having won her maiden PSA Tour title in this very event as a teenager back in 2007.

Standing in her way on finals day, though, was young Egyptian Khafagy, the tournament's No.1 seed who had come through a five-game tussle in the semi-finals, beating England's Torrie Malik in a physical, and at times fractious, encounter.

The 20-year-old was targeting her maiden World events crown against a player who counted the Tournament of Champions, US Open and British Open title among her honours, but things got off to a rocky start for the Egyptian, losing five of the first six points and finding herself a game down in under seven minutes.

But game two was a different story altogether as Khafagy suddenly found her feet, hitting her targets with far more fluency and moving well, despite wearing heavy strapping on her leg from an injury in the quarter-finals.

She lost only three points in the game to draw level on the scoreboard, with the packed-out crowd - which spilled down the walkways along both side walls - cheering each and every point, regardless of the winner, showing an appreciation for the clean and impressive showcase they were watching.

They would be further rewarded in the action that was to follow in the next three games, too, as Khafagy fought back from 8-5 down to win game three 11-8, before Serme sent the match to a decider with an 11-9 success in the fourth.

Khafagy had almost forced a tiebreak from an unlikely position in that fourth, rallying from 9-4 down before falling just short, but that comeback charge perhaps gave her some momentum to take into the fifth, as stormed to the brink of victory, at 9-4 up herself.

But this time the roles were reversed from game four, as Serme reeled off five points on the bounce to level at 9-9, setting the stage for breathtaking finale.

And a breathtaking finale was exactly what the crowd got, as the two players played out a tension-filled rally of more than a minute at 9-9, a rally that ended with Khafagy bringing up match ball on a crunching forehand drive down the line.

And she was soon celebrating victory, raising her arms aloft when a forehand boast found the tin from Serme's racket on the following point, collecting her trophy from former Spain football captain Veronica Boquete a few moments later.

Khafagy's trophy lift brought the curtain down on a memorable week on the all-glass court inside the As Cancelas shopping mall, a week headlined by packed-out crowds, passionate support and even a national TV broadcast, all sandwiched between Zara and H&M, with a bagel shop along the way.