Defending champions Paul Coll and Satomi Watanabe kept their title hopes alive at the Optasia Championships 2025 after recording thrilling five-game victories on quarter-finals day of the PSA Squash Tour Gold-level event at the Wimbledon Club.
Men’s No.2 seed Coll prevailed after an epic 79-minute duel with England No.2 Marwan ElShorbagy, taking the deciding game tie-break 12-10, while women’s No.3 seed Watanabe rallied from two games behind to defeat recent German Open champion Amanda Sobhy.
For World No.4 Coll, his meeting with ElShorbagy was a third from as many events, having defeated the World No.9 in four games at both the New Zealand Open and Australian Open.
However, this encounter was by far the pick of the bunch, with Coll having to produce some of his very best squash to withstand an inspired ElShorbagy showing.
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝘼 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 🔥🔥
Paul Coll defeats Marwan ElShorbagy in an absolute THRILLER, taking the match 12-10 in the fifth 👏 👏 #OptasiaChampionships pic.twitter.com/oBt1UatSv2
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) March 28, 2025
The match went deep into an enthralling fifth game, with ElShorbagy saving a match ball to force a deserved tie-break. However, it was Coll who managed to eventually clinch victory, clipping a perfect forehand drop into the front nick before wheeling away in celebration.
After the match, Coll said: “It was a great match. He came out firing. It was such a high pace and I found myself getting caught a little bit deeper in the court sometimes.
“I felt I was playing well though, but he was just chucking it in short so well, I felt like I was getting caught off guard.
“A massive shoutout to my boys in the front row there. I was a bit flat and the energy they gave me was unreal.”
Coll will face Marwan’s older brother, Mohamed ElShorbagy, in the semi-finals after the England No.1 overcame France’s Gregoire Marche in a clinical straight-game performance.
The pair will be joined by World No.2 Mostafa Asal and World No.5 Joel Makin in the last four of the men’s draw, after the pair recorded respective three-game wins over Egyptian duo Karim Abdel Gawad and Youssef Ibrahim.
Despite neither dropping a game, the nature of their victories couldn’t be further apart. Asal blitzed his way to victory over former World Champion Gawad to the loss of just 12 points, while Makin was forced to save game balls in all three games on his way to a physically gruelling 78-minute victory against World No.14 Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, in the women’s event, World No.11 Watanabe mounted a stunning comeback to defeat American No.2 Sobhy and advance to the second Gold-level semi-final of her career.
Watanabe, who found herself two games down after just 16 minutes of play, managed to dig deep and flip the match on its head with some attacking but equally accurate squash.
With the pair locked in at 7-7 in the deciding game, it was the defending champion who found the extra gear, hitting back-to-back winners to open up a buffer on the scoreboard and subsequently move through to victory after 52 minutes of entertaining play.
“She really outplayed me in the first two games,” Watanabe admitted after the match. “I just could not find the answers. But then in the third, I told myself that I really like this court and this club, and I wanted to stay on it.
“I got some tips from my corner in between games of how to fight back from this situation. Alison [Waters] told me more tactical tips because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do on court. It helped me to build up from there.”
The Japanese No.1 will face World No.3 Hania El Hammamy for a spot in Sunday’s title decider after the top seed eased past home hope Jasmine Hutton in straight games.
In the bottom half of the women’s draw, No.4 seed Nada Abbas survived three match balls in her clash against French No.1 Melissa Alves, eventually coming through in a fifth-game tie-break.
In a topsy-turvy match which saw several big swings in momentum, it was Abbas who managed to produce clinical and accurate squash when the pressure mounted, clinching an 11-5, 1-11, 11-1, 7-11, 13-11 victory on the all-glass court.
British National Champion Georgina Kennedy will be Abbas’ opponent in the semi-finals, after the 27-year-old overcame Sana Ibrahim in four hard-fought games.
Results: Men’s Quarter-Finals – Optasia Championships 2025
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [5] Karim Gawad (EGY) 3-0: 11-3, 11-3, 11-6 (40m)
[3] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [7] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 15-13 (78m)
[4] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-0: 14-12, 11-7, 11-7 (43m)
[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [6] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) 3-2: 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 12-10 (79m)
Results: Women’s Quarter-Finals – Optasia Championships 2025
[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [7] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 (36m)
[3] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-2: 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (52m)
[4] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt [8] Melissa Alves (FRA) 3-2: 11-5, 1-11, 11-1, 7-11, 13-11 (56m)
[2] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt [5] Sana Ibrahim (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9 (46m)
Draw: Men’s Semi-Finals (To Be Played March 29)
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v [3] Joel Makin (WAL)
[4] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) v [2] Paul Coll (NZL)
Draw: Women’s Semi-Finals (To Be Played March 29)
[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v [3] Satomi Watanabe (JPN)
[4] Nada Abbas (EGY) v [2] Georgina Kennedy (ENG)