World No.1 Nouran Gohar produced an incredible performance to overcome former World No.3 Amanda Sobhy on opening day of action at the SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals 2024-2025 while New Zealand’s Diego Elias beat out former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy at Revival Film Studios to take the top spot in their respective groups.
The SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals features the top eight male and female players on the PSA Squash Tour Finals Leaderboard, 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, with all games except the third operating on a sudden death system should the score be 10-10.
The last women’s match of the day saw Egypt’s Gohar come out on top of her first group stage match after a testing comeback from US’ Sobhy.
The World No.1 started well, playing fast, aggressive squash that Sobhy had no response for as she quickly accumulated an 11-6 first-game win.
The second game saw a close-fought battle, where the American found her rhythm and competed well with the No.1 seed, battling to a sudden death at 10-10, with Gohar competing to win the match and Sobhy fighting to level the match at 1-1. A long rally saw the ‘Terminator’ falter, hitting the tin to breathe life back into the first-round match, with Sobhy producing a rallying cry in celebration and relief.
Gohar pushed on from there, though, showing her composure to quickly create a winning advantage, converting the lead at 11-6 to earn herself three points.
Speaking after the match, Gohar said: “Amanda and I go way back.
“She was the last player I could beat in the top 10, which shows she is an amazing player. She played incredibly well today, but I’m not very happy that I lost from 10-5 up [in the second game], but it’s a good lesson to learn for the coming matches, and I’m just happy to be through in the end.
“As the World No.1 you’re always hunted. Sometimes when you haven’t played someone a lot, they can give you a hard time, so you can’t take anything for granted. Everyone is playing really well and they have nothing to lose.
“It’s very challenging. You talk about the big matches, the semis and the finals, but people don’t realise how hard it is from the very first round. Sometimes you’re more focused in the first rounds because it requires the same amount of effort.”
Emphatic from World No.1 and World Champion @mostafasal_ 🔥#SquashTourFinals pic.twitter.com/nDCMix4CnM
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) June 23, 2025
New Zealand’s Coll claimed his first win of the event after a difficult battle against former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy.
The ‘Beast’ looked ready for action as he stepped on court, and he put unrelenting pressure on Coll, forcing the two former World No.1’s to a first-game sudden death. A huge decision went to video review, going in favour of ‘Superman’, which saw a strong reaction from the Englishman towards match referee Jason Foster.
After that moment, the New Zealander took control, quickly claiming the second game 11-4 to earn himself four points and put himself ahead in Group B.
Speaking after the match, Coll said: “I had the sense he was going to come out quickly given how he was warming up.
“I wanted to keep the gap as close as possible and I knew at that pace it was going to get physical and it did quickly. I haven’t experienced that in a while from Mohamed.
“I knew the push he was putting in, in the first, and to win that was a huge momentum shift for me, so I’m happy to close that out in two.
“It’s best of three and a lot rides on that first game, so I tried to ride the momentum in the second.”
Elsewhere, Olivia Weaver sits atop Group B after a comfortable win over Sivasangari Subramaniam, while England’s Georgina Kennedy and Japan’s Satomi Watanabe both place second in their respective groups after 2-1 victories over Belgium’s Tinne Gilis and Egypt’s Fayrouz Aboelkheir.
Results – First Round: Smartcentres PSA Squash Tour Finals 2024-2025 Men’s Group A
[4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt. [8] Youssef Soliman (EGY) 2-0: 11-5, 11-8 (43m)
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt. [5] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) 2-0: 11-1, 11-3 (22m)
Results – First Round: Smartcentres PSA Squash Tour Finals 2024-2025 Men’s Group B
[2] Diego Elias (PER) bt. [7] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 2-1: 3-11, 11-6, 11-6 (38m)
[3] Paul Coll (NZL) bt. [6] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) 2-0: 11-10, 11-4 (26m)
Draw – Men’s Group A Second Round: To Be Played June 24th
15:30 – [8] Youssef Soliman [EGY] v [5] Marwan ElShorbagy [ENG]
16:45 – [1] Mostafa Asal [EGY] v [4] Joel Makin [WAL]
Draw – Men’s Group B Second Round: To Be Played June 24th
20:00 – [3] Paul Coll [NZL] v [2] Diego Elias [PER]
20:45 – [6] Mohamed ElShorbagy [ENG] v [7] Karim Abdel Gawad [EGY]
Results – First Round: Smartcentres PSA Squash Tour Finals 2024-2025 Women’s Group A
[7] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt. [3] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 2-1: 11-10, 6-11, 11-3 (36m)
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt. [6] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 2-1: 11-6, 10-11, 11-6 (38m)
Results – First Round: Smartcentres PSA Squash Tour Finals 2024-2025 Women’s Group B
[4] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt. [8] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 2-1: 11-7, 9-11, 13-11 (51m)
[2] Olivia Weaver (USA) bt. [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 2-0: 11-9, 11-9 (32m)
Draw – Women’s Group A Second Round: To Be Played June 24th
18:30 – [6] Amanda Sobhy [USA] v [7] Georgina Kennedy [ENG]
19:00 – [1] Nouran Gohar [EGY] v [3] Tinne Gilis [BEL]
Draw – Women’s Group B Second Round: To Be Played June 24th
15:00 – [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam [MAS] v [8] Fayrouz Aboelkheir [EGY]
16:15 – [2] Olivia Weaver [USA] v [4] Satomi Watanabe [JPN]