Egyptian men's world No 1 Mohamed Al-Shorbagi captured his fourth Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Squash Open title after overcoming his teammate Egyptian world No 2 Mohamed Farag 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 in a repeat of last year's final. Al-Shorbagi and Farag had swapped the first two Platinum events of the season between them, with the former winning October's US Open and the latter triumphing at the Qatar Classic earlier this month. With the victory, Al-Shorbagi powered his way to the 35th PSA title of his career – a total which sees him move up to joint eighth in the all-time PSA title winners list, level with the legendary Nick Matthew. “I'm really pleased to be able to come here and play my best squash,” Al-Shorbagi was quoted as saying after the final. “It's always great when it all comes together. I'm really proud of my performance but not to take anything away from Ali, I have nothing but respect for him. He came to the tour later than all of us and came up the rankings very fast. Very few people can do what he did and he's coming after me, but I'm trying to hold him a little bit. “We've played twice already this season; he beat me once and now I've beaten him. I'm sure we will have many more battles and compete in more finals. “Every day staying at the top of the rankings gets tougher than the day before,” Al-Shorbagi said. “In every sport, everyone studies the best and when everyone studies you then they find weaknesses. When you're at the top of the game like that you have to stay one step ahead and to be able to do that for three years is something I'm really proud of.” Farag (l) playing against Al-Shorbagi Al-Shorbagi beat Farag in a 39-minute contender. Al-Shorbagi took home $23,000 in prize money, becoming the final joint Platinum event to commit to equal prize money. The next Platinum tournament will be the CIB Black Ball Squash Open which takes place in Cairo between 3-9 December. World No 7, the 30-year-old Joelle King, lifted the first PSA World Tour Platinum trophy of her career after defeating Egyptian world No 2 and 2017 runner-up Raneem Al-Welili 3-0 by an 11-4, 12-10, 19-17 scoreline. In spite of her losing the final, Al-Welili will be named world No 1 in this month's ranking. She was able to overcome her teammate and previous world No 1 Nour Al-Sherbini's 31-month reign at world No 1 after the Egyptian suffered a 3-2 defeat to England's Sarah-Jane Perry on a dramatic day of action in the quarter-finals of the Everbright Open. Reigning world champion Al-Welili became the first Egyptian female in any sport to be crowned world No 1 when she brought the legendary Nicol David's unprecedented nine-year run atop the rankings to a close back in September 2015. “In my head, I always thought it was going to be a match between me and her [Al-Sherbini] that decided who would be world No 1,” Al-Welili said. “I didn't actually have the scenario in my head that she could lose early on or that I could lose early. Al-Shorbagi “As much as I am sad for her loss today, Sarah-Jane Perry played really well and I'm really happy to be back at world No 1.” Al-Sherbini battled hard to keep her grasp on the coveted No 1 spot intact, but fell victim to an astonishing display from world No 6 Perry who fought through to claim her first ever win against the Egyptian over a best-of-five games format earning a 7-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-8, 11-5 victory to end Al-Sherbini's title defence. “I'm absolutely thrilled,” Perry said. “Nour is an amazing player. She's the world No 1 going into the match and she's earned that. I've beaten her before but not in a best of five and so to beat her 3-2, I'm really pleased.” World No 2 Ali Farag, also of Egypt, moved through to the semi-finals after he came back from a game behind to beat another Egyptian, former world No 1 Karim Abdel-Gawad 3-1 to ensure that he will play the German world No 5 Simon Rösner for the third time this season. Rösner beat Farag in October's US Open semi-final, but Farag avenged that defeat in the Qatar Classic final earlier this month.
