“I’m so proud of myself,” said Asal. “It’s been a tough week for me… People don’t know what happens outside of the court, I’m dealing with lots of things to play this awesome squash.
“I’m so happy to come to Hong Kong. My first time in 2018, I lost in 20 mins against Tom Richards in the first round, so I’m really happy to win it this time.”
El Hammamy, meanwhile, shrugged off losing the lead twice to eventually prevail against compatriot Nour El Sherbini in 89 minutes.
It was the third time the two have met in the finals of a world series event, and on the previous occasion, in October, it was El Sherbini who won a marathon five-game clash.
“I am definitely over the moon with the win,” El Hammamy said. “I lost to her in five in Switzerland [in October] so I did not want to lose to her again today in five. I tried as much as I can to stay sharp, and I am proud of myself.”
Such was the intensity of the women’s final, a packed Hong Kong Park Sports Centre was treated to a mouth-watering opening game, that included four lead changes and lasted 19 minutes before El Hammamy took it 15-13.
The world No 3 looked to be taking the second game too, but at 9-8 her opponent took a medical timeout that appeared to disrupt El Hammamy’s momentum, and she conceded three consecutive points as El Sherbini levelled the match.
In contrast to the first two games, the third was over in just four minutes, with El Hammamy taking it 11-3, but four unanswered points late in the fourth game gave the 27-year-old El Sherbini an 11-8 win to take it to a decider.
Despite reeling off three straight points to seize an early lead in the final game, El Hammamy, who has won three world series titles this year, needed a final push before winning 11-9.
Afterwards, El Hammamy credited her brother Karim for calming her down during the medical timeout, which El Sherbini took to treat an injured hand.
“I was a little bit frustrated by the decision, and it did not go my way, or help me to focus,” El Hammamy said. “After losing the second, I had to regroup and calmed myself down, and gladly with the help of my brother, who coached me by my side, I was able to regroup well, took the third, and won it.”
In the men’s final, Asal and Diego Elias clashed for the fifth time on tour this year, in what was their second encounter in three weeks.
Battling Elias for the first time in a final, Asal was no match for his opponent early on and quickly found himself two down, after losing both games 11-6.
The Egyptian, who stunned tournament top seed Paul Coll in the semi-finals, then needed to save a championship point in the third to give himself a lifeline.
Drawing on his experience of beating Elias in five of six previous meetings, with the only loss coming in Singapore last month because of a freak injury that saw him retired with an injury, Asal bounced back to win the third 12-10, and then rattled off 11-9, 11-4 wins to claim the title.
