El Hammamy & Elias Celebrate El Gouna Glory

World No.1 Hania El Hammamy and world No.3 Diego Elias have been crowned the champions of the PSA Squash Tour Platinum-level El Gouna International Open 2026 after defeating world No.2 Nour ElSherbini and world No.8 Mohamad Zakaria on finals night in Egypt.

The evening's opening match featured the tournament's top two seeds, Hania El Hammamy and Nour ElSherbini, going head-to-head in a straight shootout for the world No.1 position in the women's rankings.

In yet another blockbuster meeting - the 31st - between the two Egyptian greats, it was El Hammamy who battled back from 21 down to lift her second El Gouna International title, taking the thrilling title decider by an 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9 scoreline.

The contest featured significant momentum swings and high drama throughout, with El Hammamy fending off a late surge from the eight-time World Champion, who rallied from 5-1 down to lead 7-6 in the deciding game. However, it was El Hammamy who ultimately prevailed with some quality squash in the pressure moments of the match, moving through to lift her fifth major title of the PSA Squash Tour season after 78 minutes of play.

"It was an amazing match," El Hammamy said. "It was up and down. I think I had phases where I was comfortable and then she had patches where she was controlling the whole game.

"When I watch it back, I'm sure I'll be entertained with the quality we both produced. In the moment, I just really wanted the match to be over. It was full of emotions, full of pressure and I felt my quality was really tense. I'm really glad that I managed to win in those conditions.

"I just tried to tell myself to keep bouncing, keep moving my body. I wasn't moving at my best, but I knew how much effort I was putting into her legs by getting all these balls back. Last night's match definitely put a bit of heaviness on my movement today."

Meanwhile, No.4 seed Elias stormed through to his first title of the 2025/26 PSA Squash Tour season after dispatching teenager Mohamad Zakaria in straight games.

Peru's Elias became the first non-Egyptian winner of the El Gouna International since France's Gregory Gaultier in 2017, thanks to a one-sided 11-1, 11-7, 11-1 victory over the 18-year-old World Junior Champion.

The 2024 World Champion backed up his thrilling semi-final victory over world No.1 Mostafa Asal in devastating style, outclassing a war-weary Zakaria and ending the teenager's hopes of becoming the third-youngest male winner of a major title on the PSA Squash Tour.

"I'm super happy with my whole week," Elias said after the match. "I went back to my game, I stopped making errors, and just started playing as solid as I could.

"I'm feeling really good physically. The whole game is different. I'm way more comfortable on court and I'm in a good position almost every time.

"I'm also really pleased with the way I felt after that tough match yesterday. It shows that all the hard work paid off."

The next stop on the PSA Squash Tour is the Copper-level STARR Bermuda Open 2026, which takes place between 14-18 April and will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV.