Elhammamy Upsets Singh As Egypt Complete World Junior Finals Shutout

Egypt have successfully locked down the finals of the 2025 World Junior Championships after an intense semi-finals day in which Nadien Elhammamy upset No.2 seed Anahat Singh of India to join compatriots Amina Orfi, Mohamad Zakaria and Marwan Asal in the title matches at Black Ball Sporting Club in Cairo.

Egypt have dominated the junior circuit in recent years and today's results mean that the tournament hosts will occupy both final berths for the first time since 2019.

With three of the four semi-finals today being all-Egyptian affairs, it was perhaps little surprise that the attention of the capacity crowd in Black Ball was fixed firmly on the clash between 3/4 seed Elhammamy and No.2 seed Singh.

Ahead of the match, a result was impossible to call with any confidence, with the pair sharing a 2-2 head-to-head record and all four of those encounters going to five games.

Elhammamy, who lost to Singh in the quarter-finals of the Indian Open in their last meeting, made a strong start to today's match, feeding off the crowd's energy with an 11-6 win in game one.

Singh looked to have levelled when she went 10-5 up in game two.

The Egyptian, however, had other ideas. Whipping the crowd into a frenzy, the 18-year-old saved every one of the five game balls, stunning Singh - who felt she was on the wrong end of several decisions by the match referee - by taking game two 14-12.

Singh settled in game three and had multiple game ball opportunities. However, once again, Elhammamy was able to survive, saving them to stun Singh in another tie-break, 12-10.

"I mean it's just amazing to reach my first World Junior Championship final!" Elhammamy said afterwards.

"I'm over the moon with my performance today and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's match.

"At 10-5 down, I thought 'It can't get worse than that!' I just told myself that even if she was to win that game, I wouldn't let her win it easily. I wanted to fight for every single shot and it paid off for me."

Top seed Orfi, meanwhile, was at her commanding best, extending her winning streak at the World Squash Junior Championships to 23 matches since making her debut in France in 2022 with an 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 victory over 5/8 seed Sohayla Hazem.

The men's final will pit defending champion Zakaria against Asal in a matchup between Alexandria and Cairo.

Local favourite Asal - younger brother of reigning World Champion and world No.1 Mostafa Asal - was forced to do things the hard way tonight, fighting his way through an intensely physical and at-times bad-tempered clash with tournament surprise package Adham Roshdy.

Asal made the faster start, storming out of the blocks to take the opener 11-6, only for Roshdy to hit back 11-8.

The 3/4 seed had the better of the third game, only for Roshdy - who stunned No.2 seed JooYoung Na in the round of 16 - to drag himself level again in a stop-start 11-8 win.

Game five was dominated by collisions and decisions. With the scores level midway through, either player could have won it but, in a tense finale in which tempers threatened to boil over, it was Asal who was able to get over the line, wrapping up the win 11-7 to reach the championship final for the first time.

"It's so tough playing another Egyptian," Asal admitted afterwards, "But I'm very happy and am looking forward to win the tournament!"

Zakaria, like fellow top seed Orfi, looked a cut above his opponent today, controlling proceedings throughout against his compatriot, 3/4 seed and 2025 British Junior Open champion Eiad Daoud, as he wrapped up a 3/0 win with minimal fuss to reach his third consecutive final.