Asal & El Hammamy Power To Pyramids Titles

Egyptian duo Hania El Hammamy and Mostafa Asal have been crowned 2025 CIB Egyptian Open champions after El Hammamy defeated teen star and compatriot Amina Orfi and Asal took down rival Diego Elias of Peru in a fiery encounter.

The CIB Egyptian Open, a PSA Squash Tour Diamond event, has been staged on an incredible all-glass court in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza, while early rounds took place at the traditional courts at Club O West.

Asal and Elias are the two stand out performers at the top of the men's game, and look set to enjoy a fierce fight for the top ranking again this season after impressing in the first major.

Despite being reigning World Champion and current occupant of the world No.1 ranking, Asal went into the match hoping to overturn a worrying trend against Elias, who had won the last four matches between the two.

Asal made a perfect start to the match, taking a 2/0 lead with a pair of 11-9 wins, though not without receiving a number of warnings for his movement.

Game three began as game two concluded, with acrimony and warnings, with the stunned Asal threatened with a conduct game after referee Roman Svec felt his prior warnings to allow access had been disregarded.

Asal initially appeared to heed these warnings and had championship ball at 10-9, only for Elias to strike back to force a fourth game with a 12-10 win.

Asal was not to be denied a second time, though, pulling away from 7-7 with a final flourish to take an 11-7 victory.

Afterwards, Asal said: "It feels amazing. To be honest, there were lots of things happening. I just tried to play squash and then there were lots of stoppages. You see the first game and half was perfect for a final, and then it turned.

"I just said to Diego 'let's play'.

"We want our game to be the best it can be. Everyone needs to step up. I'm happy with my mentality though to get the win today."

El Hammamy, too, came through four games to lift the title.

El Hammamy and Orfi have wowed in Giza. The 25-year-old El Hammamy has produced some of her very best squash this week, with the pinnacle coming in the semi-finals when she stunned world No.1 Nouran Gohar 3/0 in what she later described as a 'best performance yet.'

Orfi, meanwhile, has continued her rise to the top of the game, with the 18-year-old going into today's final knowing that a win would send her into the top four of the PSA World Rankings.

Today, though, El Hammamy was a cut above, dominating as she took a 2/0 lead 11-6, 11-5.

Despite taking a nasty blow to the mouth that drew blood, Orfi showed her typical resilience to hit back 11-8 in game three.

This proved a false dawn, however, with the resurgent El Hammamy charging out in game four to record an 11-4 win to seal her first Diamond-level title and confirm a move to world No.2 in next week's rankings.

"I'm really happy with my whole event this week and my start to the season," El Hammamy said afterwards.

"It's just exciting, I just want to build from here and replicate it as best as possible. I want to keep pushing to higher levels.

"I've been taught so many lessons from both El Sherbini and Gohar and now standing here in this position I feel I have gained so much knowledge. Hopefully I won't stop at world No.2."

The next major event on the PSA Squash Tour is the QTerminals Qatar Classic, which takes place between September 28 - 04 October in Doha, with action to be shown live on SQUASHTV and partner channels.