Marwan ElShorbagy & Farida Mohamed Claim New York Titles

In an action-packed finals day at Open Squash FiDi in New York, world No.10 Marwan ElShorbagy defeated world No.12 Victor Crouin, while world No.17 Farida Mohamed downed giant-killer Ka Yi Lee as both top seeds were crowned the inaugural Open Squash Classic champions.

In the men's final, ElShorbagy faced Frenchman Crouin for a chance to win his first World Tour title since 2022, while Crouin looked to build on a fantastic Open Squash Classic campaign, reaching the final while winning all of his matches 3/0.

The game began with long, more attritional rallies in which both players shared points, similar to the Englishman's semi-final clash with Greg Lobban, but soon ElShorbagy made his mark on the match, finding his targets in all four corners to push on and claim the first game 11-7.

The top seed continued looking strong as the second game progressed, and despite the Frenchman's late attempt at a comeback, ElShorbagy closed out the game 11-6 to go 2/0 up in the final.

Crouin's late second-game scoring seemed to warm the No.2 seed to the pace of the match, and he battled the No.1 seed to a 7-5 lead. The 31-year-old rallied back, but it was Crouin who held on to halve the deficit in the match.

Despite the Frenchman growing into the match, and the packed Open Squash crowd cheering for the world No.12, ElShorbagy looked cool under pressure and battled to 10-7. Crouin fought hard, saving two championship balls, but a backhand drop to the front-left corner won the match for the favourite.

"Overall, I'm happy with the win today," said ElShorbagy after the match. "To win the final today against Victor means a lot to me. We played a final in Nantes two or three years ago and he beat me in the final so that was in the back of my mind today.

"He's been playing very well. He didn't drop any games until the final, so I knew how dangerous he is.

"I was very focused, I was very sharp. I was very happy to get that 2/0 lead and I was unlucky not to win the third, but he played very well also. So overall I think it was a good quality match. We both gave it everything.

"I don't really have much time because I play in two days time in San Francisco. It came to my mind when I was 2/0 up. 'Marwan you have a match in two days and I might play [Mohamed] Abouelghar or Baptiste [Masotti]. It was in the back of my mind so I have no time to celebrate, just going to go back and catch a 6AM flight."

In the women's final, top seed Farida Mohamed claimed victory as she defeated Hong Kong's Ka Yi Lee to earn the second World Tour title of her career. Lee came into the match after upset wins over No.7 seed Nadine Shahin, No.2 seed Nada Abbas and No.3 seed Hollie Naughton, while Mohamed had yet to drop a game in the tournament.

The opening game saw Mohamed continue the dominant form she has shown throughout the tournament, but cracks were visible, with most of Lee's early points coming from Mohamed errors. The Hong Kong player grew into the match, but it was too late to impact the scoreline.

Game two saw Lee playing the way she had been in her earlier matches, without pressure and free to go for the shots that have proved so effective throughout her tournament run. The top seed soon fought back however, bringing the score to 5-5 before pushing on confidently to win 11-6 and go within a game of the title.

Lee looked sharp as she used all her effort to take an 8-5 lead, but it wasn't enough as Mohamed kept consistent, conceding just one point from there to win the game 11-9 and claim the 2024 Open Squash Classic title without dropping a single game.

"It's such a relief honestly," said Mohamed after the match. "Coming into the tournament seeded one. Sometimes it's a little more pressure, but playing at Open Squash made it much easier on me. It's like a family here, I used to train here whenever I was in New York so it feels like my home club so it definitely removed a lot of pressure from the game today, but I'm so happy with my performance throughout the whole week.

"I've never played [Lee] before, and it was very very stressful knowing that she had made two upsets, especially beating the No.2 seed Nada [Abbas]. I went into the match very ready, and I was ready from the very beginning which I think was one of the reasons I played very well throughout the whole game.

"I think I had a good plan, and I was focused the whole time, so I'm very happy with my performance."

Attention now turns to the inaugural Silicon Valley Open 2024 starting today (11 October), with all four finalists making their way over to the Golden State to compete in the Gold-level event.