Joelle King was crowned the women’s champion while Mohamed ElShorbagy bagged the men’s title at the end of an exciting week of squash action in the MARIGOLD Singapore Squash Open, with the finals played on 20 Nov, Sunday, at the iconic glass showcourt specially built for the tournament at the OCBC Arena. The US$220,000 event is the first PSA World Tour Gold event to be held in Singapore.
World number five and King of New Zealand saved game ball in the second game en route to her 3-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-4) triumph over Egyptian world number six Nour El Tayeb.
Englishman ElShorbagy, the world number three and 2017 world champion, enjoyed a smooth 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-8) victory over reigning US Open champion Diego Elias of Peru to clinch his fourth title this season. King and ElShorbagy had both won the New Zealand Open last week.
There were three Singapore players on the opening day of the tournament on 15 Nov. Samuel Kang took on Raphael Kandra while Au Yeong Wai Yhann went up against Hollie Naughton, and late entrant Leia Lee Zi Fang faced the challenge of Welshwoman Emily Whitlock.
Kang fell 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-9) to German world number 19 Kandra in the men’s singles in a match that took about 31 minutes. In the women’s event, Au Yeong was defeated by Canadian world number 17 Hollie Naughton 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-2), while Lee lost to Whitlock 3-0 (11-1, 11-1, 11-2) in just under 20 minutes.
“Amazing experience playing in a PSA World Tour event here in Singapore! What a privilege to be able to get on the court with German #1 and World #19 Raphael Kandra after watching him play some thrilling matches over the years. Home crowd was buzzing and I can’t wait for us to have more events like this in the future! Thanks to Singapore Squash for the wildcard and the organizing team for putting this event together,” posted Kang on his Instagram after his match.
In the final, second-seed King found her groove early and took the opening game comfortably as the third-seeded Tayeb made a series of costly errors. Tayeb had a better start to the second game as she controlled play well to move her opponent around to earn game ball at 10-8.
But King responded with a series of clever drop shots to win four straight points and extend her lead to 2-0. It was full steam ahead for King, who dominated the third game to win her second title in as many weeks.
“She’s had a baby and she’s been terrorising all of the draws. It was such a tough match, I know it was 3-0, but the intensity was high and there was so much skill and athleticism on display here. That’s what you get when you play Nour. Congratulations to her on a great tournament, and I’m very pleased to win,” said 34-year-old King.
Fourth seed ElShorbagy fends off Elias with ease to win his second consecutive title and fourth of the season. Elias had defeated ElShorbagy en route to winning the US Open last month but on Sunday, the Peruvian third seed had no answers for his opponent’s pace and power. With the win, ElShorbagy takes the advantage in their head-to-head as he leads 6-5.
ElShorbagy revealed later that a call to his younger brother Marwan, coupled with lessons learnt from his last encounter with Diego, were key to his victory in Singapore.
He said: “I gave a call to my brother last night because my brother played against him in Switzerland (at the Grasshopper Cup in October) and beat him 3-0. I wanted to understand what my brother did and how he beat him. I lost to Diego five times and even the times that I did beat him, the matches were very tough and I never really had a convincing win over him. But he has had many convincing wins against me. So I wanted to try and understand the way he plays and the tactics that he uses. There is no shame in wanting to ask players, especially if it is your younger brother.”