Hull, England. In a result set to send shockwaves through the women’s squash world, 21 year-old Hania El Hammamy has beaten World #1 Nouran Gohar to be crowned the 2022 Women’s British Open champion.
After a sublime run through the tournament, including a thrilling 3-2 performance against Joelle King in her Semi-Final, Hania El Hammamy has downed fellow Egyptian Nouran Gohar in a sensational 76 minute four game match to take the most prestigious title on tour. She won 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4.
Up until today, Gohar’s unique style has proven troublesome for just about every player on tour. Generating a staggering amount of power on both her forehand and backhand, the ferocious pace she injects into her shots wasn’t enough to take down the keen youngster.
The match was a little stop-start throughout. Welsh referee Roy Gingell was called into action from the word ‘go’, with both players fighting through interference to eek out every single point.
Hania looked promising from the first game. She made phenomenal pickups, forced errors from the racket of Gohar and batted hard to take the win. Gohar adjusted her game throughout, upping the pace, improving her length-game and reining in her error count. Hania weathered the storm, and in the end Gohar looked to be out of ideas. By the fourth game, Hania exposed Gohar’s game to comfortably seal the victory.
As we head into the Tournament of Champions and PSA World Championships in May, Hammamy now looks to be the player to beat.
After the match, Hammamy said:
“I’ve won a lot of British Junior Opens, so this is always a really special tournament to me. Winning the Senior British Open makes it even more special. Nouran has been giving me trouble every time we’ve met, so winning this match means the world to me.”
“I kept my focus, and had to be very consistent in order to beat Nouran.”
Commiserations to Gohar, and a huge congratulations to Hania. We can’t wait to see their inevitably incredible battles in future tournaments.
The player’s gear
It was an all-Tecnifibre battle on court for the British open final – we’ve taken a deeper dive to see exactly what equipment the players are using.
Nouran Gohar
Nouran is using the Tecnifibre Carboflex Airshaft 130, as Endorsed by fellow Egyptian Marwan Elshorbagy. This is a mid-weight, evenly balanced teardrop-shaped racket, with a dense stringing pattern and fairly stiff frame.
She also looks to be using Tecnifibre’s X-One Biphase strings (though they could also be Ashaway Supernick ZX).
Gohar wears the Asics Gel Tactic 2 shoes – one of the highest rated shoes tested on SquashGearReviews.com.
Purchase links:
Tecnifibre Carboflex Airshaft 130
Asics Gel Tactic 2
Hania El Hammamy
Hania is using the Tecnifibre Carboflex Airshaft 125NS. Ironically, this is the signature racket of one of Hammamy’s closest competitors – Nour El Sherbini (Hence the ’NS’ in the racket’s name).
Unlike the standard Airshaft 125, the NS version has a thinner grip. You’ll sometimes see this marketed towards female players, however pay no attention – the thinner grip is favoured my many male players on tour too, and was actually our preference in the latest Carboflex line-up.
It’s too hard to tell what strings Hania is using, though it’s likely the top-of-the-line string from Tecnifibre, the new Dynamix VP 1.2.
On her feet, Hania wears the Asics Gel Fastballs – one of the most popular shoes on tour thanks to their lightweight, low-profile design, with a wide mid-sole providing excellent levels of stability when moving.
Purchase links:
Tecnifibre Carboflex Airshaft 125
Asics Gel Fastball