5:52 am
16 Feb 2025

Aboelkheir & Abbas Set Up Carol Weymuller Title Showdown

2 Feb 2025

Egyptian duo Fayrouz Aboelkheir and Nada Abbas will contest the Carol Weymuller Open 2025 final after beating Farida Mohamed and Sarah-Jane Perry, respectively, on semi-finals day of the PSA Squash Tour Bronze event at The Heights Casino in Brooklyn, New York.

Aboelkheir was beaten by Mohamed in the final of this event 12 months ago, and had never recorded a Tour win over the 23-year-old, who had her sister Habiba in her coaching corner for the 2025 showdown.

Both players possess aggressive styles of play so there was always likely to be plenty of attacking intent, and so it proved in a lightning-fast game one, which saw both players going on the offensive early in the rallies, with very few exchanges lasting more than a few shots.

It was Aboelkheir who was playing the cleaner squash, though, and after taking a one-game lead after only five minutes, she quickly stormed into a 5-0 lead in the second.

Mohamed clawed her way back to within three points at 10-7 but had left herself too much to do, falling 2/0 behind after 15 minutes of play.

The defending champion had come from behind to win in five in each of the previous two rounds but there would be no repeat here, with errors continuing to plague her game in the third.

Aboelkheir, meanwhile, was playing some impressive squash and looked to be heading for victory at 8-2 up, only for Mohamed to shake hands and retire, ending the match in somewhat anti-climactic circumstances.

"The last two times we played, I was a bit immature, so this time I tried to be a bit more professional," Aboelkheir admitted after her win.

"Coming into the game, I had no pressure on me. I am the No.1 seed but the head-to-head wins were all to her, so I'm really happy to be in another final here.

"It's very hard to play at a very high pace all the time and Farida is definitely a very powerful player, one of the best on Tour, and it's not easy. I tried to just play my game and always be on my toes."

The No.1 seed's reward for her win will be a showdown with fellow Egyptian and No.4 seed Nada Abbas, who beat England's Sarah-Jane Perry 3/1 to reach the final.

Perry had beaten No.2 seed Salma Hany 24 hours earlier and was targeting a first Bronze final since 2022, but made the worst possible start here, winning only three points in a one-sided opening game.

She then found herself 8-4 down in the second, at which point she rolled her ankle in the front-left corner, losing the point to fall 9-4 behind and heading off court for a three-minute injury break.

But that break appeared to completely shift the momentum of the match, as Perry reeled off five points on the bounce upon her return, before saving a game ball at 10-9 down and taking the tiebreak 12-10, pumping her fist to the crowd as the players headed for their corners.

Abbas, though, regained her focus and took control of game three, winning eight points out of nine to move from 3-2 to 11-3, and was soon on the brink of victory, bringing up four match balls at 10-6 in the fourth.

She only needed one, as Perry found the tin on a forehand drop, handing the 24-year-old a place in the biggest final of her career to date.

"I've been seeded in so many Bronze tournaments and I have never passed the quarter-finals, so this one is special," Abbas said.

"This tournament has been very iconic. Many world No.1s have won this tournament before so to be playing at this level and playing the final is a big thing.

"At 9-4 [in the second], I started overthinking a little bit and she came back very strong and very smart, and I think I relaxed a little bit.

"After that second, I just tried to totally forget about it as if it hadn't happened."