ElSherbini One Win Away From Record-Breaking Ninth World Title

Egypt's world No.2 Nour ElSherbini continued her quest to claim a record-breaking ninth CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships title after defeating world No.4 Olivia Weaver in a hard-fought four-game clash at Golf Central Palm Hills in Giza, Egypt.

ElSherbini, who is looking to eclipse Malaysian great Nicol David in the history books this week, advanced to her 11th straight final at squash's biggest tournament following an 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 19-17 victory over the US No.1.

The 30-year-old has now reached her 12th World Championship final. ElSherbini will now also have the opportunity to return to world No.1 for the first time since December 2024 if she lifts the World Championship trophy.

Four-time World Junior Champion Amina Orfi now stands between ElSherbini and history in the women's final.

"You saw how Olivia fought back and we always have tough battles together," said ElSherbini after her 20th successive win over Weaver.

"Winning this match has given me a lot of positives and it's great to be in another final. The belief was so important tonight. I lost it a little bit in the third game, but I wanted to have a good start in the fourth.

"I didn't actually get it, but I just tried to push for every single point. I thought it was really important to get that belief back. Amina reaching the final is so amazing for her age. She played amazingly, and she definitely deserved the win. I will definitely prepare for it and be ready for tomorrow."

Orfi has become the second youngest female player to reach the title decider at the World Championships - eclipsed only by ElSherbini herself - after defeating current world No.1 Hania El Hammamy in a marathon 103-minute clash.

Orfi - who is aged 18 years and 10 months - had fallen to defeat in her last four meetings with El Hammamy, with the teenager losing out most recently in last month's El Gouna International semi-finals, which kicked off a war of words between the pair, who have a fractious relationship.

This time around, it was Orfi who ended up on the winning side, and she will become the first player to hold the World Junior Championships and PSA World Championships titles at the same time if she can get the better of ElSherbini.

"I honestly can't believe it, it's been a while since I've beaten Hania," Orfi said.

"I think this season has been very tough for me. There have been new experiences, new places and new finals. But I think I have learned a lot and I used that tonight. A lot of people were hyping me up, all my friends are here. The past few weeks have been great in training and gave me belief tonight."

The men's final will be contested by World No.1 Mostafa Asal and World No.7 Youssef Ibrahim after they secured wins over 2024 World Champion Diego Elias and 2016 World Champion Karim Gawad.

Asal, who last year became the first player since Jansher Khan in 1988 to lift the title without dropping a game, avenged his recent El Gouna International defeat to Elias with an 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 11-2 victory.

"Playing in front of my family, friends, it's amazing," Asal said after the match.

"It's a different type of pressure when you're playing on your home soil and it's tough playing such a tough opponent like Diego, especially when he's in form. I was upset after the semi-finals in El Gouna, it gave me a little bit of extra motivation to push. It fired me up for today."

Ibrahim has reached his first World Championship final after following up yesterday's quarter-finals victory over No.2 seed Paul Coll with 3/1 win over Gawad in a match which started after midnight.

Ibrahim is due to have shoulder surgery following the World Championships and will win his first major title if he can beat Asal in the final.

"It's amazing," Ibrahim said after the match.

"It's been a long and tough week for me. I knew it was going to be the last hurrah [for the season], so I wanted to make it memorable, and so far it's going well. Tonight was the latest that I've ever played. It's hard to play at 12:00, I didn't feel like it was the semi-finals of the World Champs, but I just had to boost myself a little bit on the inside.

"I'm going to take my time with my recovery, just try to get a good sleep and I'll be ready for tomorrow."