World No.1s Nour El Sherbini and Ali Farag came through 3-2 thrillers to capture the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions titles in New York.
It had already been a history-making set of finals, with the men’s and women’s events both being played by the winners of the two previous ToC finals.
Reigning champion El Sherbini produced a stunning comeback from 2-1 down to defeat Gohar 3-2 to retain her title.
In what was a repeat of the 2023 final, the World No.1, who sustained a lower back injury during her semi final victory against Hania El Hammamy, trailed 2-0 after Gohar’s ferocious power to drive the ball into the back of the court and her use of the boast put the World No.3 firmly in the driving seat.
The moment @noursherbini completed a remarkable fightback to retain her @ToCSquash title! 👏#TOCSquash pic.twitter.com/ywr24Ya3EK
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) January 26, 2024
Errors from Gohar in the third were swooped on by El Sherbini as she mixed the pace to halve the deficit before levelling the match as the World Champion dominated the middle of the court.
The momentum had shifted completely in El Sherbini’s favour having come back from the brink to force a fifth game, and the ‘Warrior Princess’ was too strong for Gohar as she converted championship ball at the second attempt to clinch her fifth title in New York – the only player to achieve that feat.
“I thought I was out of this match!” she said. “I thought I was going to lose and I didn’t want to lose 3-0. My dad told me to play one more game and just focus on hitting my targets, point by point and just focus on the third game.”
The men’s final was another five-game thriller, as Farag held off a strong fightback from Elias to clinch his fourth trophy of the season.
It was the fourth time the top two men’s players were going head-to-head for a title, and Farag had triumphed in all of the previous finals against the Peruvian during this campaign.
Both players wrestled for control at the top of the ‘T’ in the opening three games, as Farag came from one game down to nudge 2-1 up after extending the rallies and putting work into Elias following his lengthy semi final showdown with Mostafa Asal the night before.
Short, sharp rallies favoured Elias at the beginning of the fourth, and the Peruvian did enough to hold off a Farag comeback as four of his five game balls were saved by the Egyptian. With the match level going into the fifth, Farag was in determined mood to maintain his unbeaten streak over Elias this season to clinch his third Tournament of Champions crown.
“I feel very proud, it was a tough start,” said Farag. “I was being very passive and Diego [Elias] was hitting very crisp shots to the back of the court. He was dominating the ‘T’ area for the first part of the first game.
“I had to change things up and speed things up a little bit. That gave me confidence going into the second, even though I lost it. I built a bit of momentum going into the second.
“The second and the third went well and the fourth, he had a very good start and in a matter of seconds he was 6-0 up. I tried to fight my way back in, but I couldn’t. It did give me confidence going into the fifth and I’m so glad I started the fifth the way I did.”
The next Platinum-level event on the PSA World Tour will be the Windy City Open 2024, presented by the Walter Family, in Chicago. The tournament will take place between Feb 21 – 28.
Result: J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2024 – Men’s final
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [2] Diego Elias (PER) 3-2: 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5 (74m)