World No.10 Georgina Kennedy has become the first Englishwoman since 2017 to qualify for the last four of the SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals after she beat USA’s Amanda Sobhy earlier today at Toronto’s Revival Film Studios.
The SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals features the top eight male and female players on the Road to Tour Finals standings, with points for the standings on offer at all PSA Squash Tour events throughout the 2024-25 season. The group stage uses a round robin, best-of-three games format as players bid to qualify for the knockout stages.
Kennedy had never beaten Sobhy or advanced beyond the group stages at the PSA Squash Tour Finals, but she righted both of those wrongs tonight as she earned an 11-4, 11-10 triumph over the World No.9. Kennedy is the first female English semi-finalist since Laura Massaro won the tournament in 2017.
“I’ve never beaten Amanda before, she reads the game so well,” said Kennedy.
“We were both trying to find our targets. I ended up getting a few lucky bounces and got the momentum. What worked well in the first game stopped working. That sudden death point was probably the most intense, ferocious point in the match. Obviously, it could’ve gone either way. On another day I would’ve lost that one, but I’m really happy to be through.
“I felt like I wouldn’t back myself in a sudden-death situation. I do get quite edgy as well. I just wanted to attack and if I hit the tin, I wanted it to be with intent rather than an edgy soft one. Instead it paid off and I got lucky.”
Defending champion and World No.1 Nouran Gohar will join Kennedy in the semi-finals after beating Belgium’s Tinne Gilis 2-0. The winner of Gohar’s match with Kennedy tomorrow will qualify top of Group A.
It’s all to play for in Group B, with USA’s No.2 seed Olivia Weaver sitting at the summit with seven points. Weaver will qualify top if she beats Egypt’s Fayrouz Aboelkheir tomorrow, while Aboelkheir and Japan’s Satomi Watanabe can still qualify with wins.
World No.3 Paul Coll’s withdrawal from the event due to injury earlier in the day handed 2-0 wins to both of his upcoming opponents, World No.2 Diego Elias and World No.7 Karim Gawad. That meant Elias qualified for the semi-finals without playing today, meaning all eyes were on Gawad and World No.6 Mohamed ElShorbagy in their match.
👌 Joel Makin that is beautiful!
Mostafa Asal never saw it coming! pic.twitter.com/7kX9KaYtB8
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) June 24, 2025
A high-quality clash saw Gawad emerge with an 11-10, 9-11, 11-3 victory to join Elias in the semi-finals.
“At this stage, me and Mohamed don’t push 100% physically, but it’s always good spirits and good techniques,” said Gawad afterwards.
“We both played some good squash in the last few matches, so it’s always enjoyable to play him. Today was tough for both of us. It was 50/50 who would qualify. It’s always nice to play him and be on court with him.
“I think we both pushed too hard before that at 10-10 [in the first game], and I would have been so depressed if I lost that game. It’s so hard to come back in the best of three against Mohamed. It meant a lot to me, I tried not to think too much about it and I tried to play it like any of the other points.”
World No.1 Mostafa Asal has qualified top of Group A after he beat World No.4 Joel Makin in straight games. Makin will play Marwan ElShorbagy, with the winner of that match joining Asal in the last four.
Results – Second Round: 2024-25 SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals Men’s Group A
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [4] Joel Makin (WAL) 2-0: 11-6, 11-4 (40m)
[5] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) bt [8] Youssef Soliman (EGY) 2-1: 3-11, 11-5, 11-9 (49m)
Results – Second Round: 2024-25 SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals Men’s Group B
[7] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt [6] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) 2-1: 11-10, 9-11, 11-3 (49m)
[2] Diego Elias (PER) bt [3] Paul Coll (NZL) w/o
Draw – Men’s Group A Third Round: To Be Played June 25th
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v [8] Youssef Soliman (EGY)
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) v [5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
Draw – Men’s Group B Third Round: To Be Played June 25th
[2] Diego Elias (PER) v [6] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG)
Results – Second Round: 2024-25 SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals Women’s Group A
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [3] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 2-0: 11-2, 11-4 (23m)
[7] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 2-0: 11-4, 11-10 (20m)
Results – Second Round: 2024-25 SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals Women’s Group B
[2] Olivia Weaver (USA) bt [4] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 2-1: 3-11, 11-6, 11-6 (31m)
[8] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) bt [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 2-1: 10-11, 11-9, 11-7 (41m)
Draw – Women’s Group A Third Round: To Be Played June 25th
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [7] Georgina Kennedy (ENG)
[3] Tinne Gilis (BEL) v [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA)
Draw – Women’s Group B Third Round: To Be Played June 25th
[2] Olivia Weaver (USA) v [8] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY)
[4] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)