It’s finals night as the 2018 Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family & EquiTrust Life Insurance Company comes to a close – and you can watch the action LIVE on SQUASHTV, Eurosport Player, BT Sport and more.

There are two exciting finals in store as Egypt’s World No.3 Nour El Tayeb takes on New Zealand’s Joelle King in the women’s final.

El Tayeb will be targeting her second World Series title, after winning the U.S. Open earlier in the season, while King is targeting her first World Series crown after knocking out reigning three-time champion Raneem El Welily in the last round.

In the men’s final, it is a family affair as brother Mohamed and Marwan ElShorbagy lock horns under the chandeliers of the University Club of Chicago’s Cathedral Hall. The two brothers last met in the final of the PSAWorld Championships and this promises to be another epic encounter between the two brothers.

Match: [7] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [9] Joelle King (NZL)
Result: 3-2
Scores: 11-8, 10-12, 11-13, 11-9, 12-10 (78m)

Egypt’s World No.3 Nour El Tayeb saved two championship balls to defeat New Zealand’s World No.9 Joelle King as she came out on top in another epic five-game clash at the Windy City Open.

Cairo-born El Tayeb – who won her first World Series title at the U.S. Open earlier this season – had already endured three previous five-game matches with two of those forcing her to come from 2-0 down as the Egyptian once again proved her resilience to edge King in a tense battle.

The two players had not faced each other on the PSA World Tour since 2014 and it was El Tayeb who took the initial advantage – despite King holding four game balls – as she claimed the opener.

From then on it was all about King – who was playing in her first World Series final – as the Kiwi took control to claim the next two games with the momentum swinging in the World No.9’s favour – with that time being her turn to save five game balls in the third to take it 13-11 in the tie-break.

Not one to go down without a fight, El Tayeb showed the kind of resilience that she has become famous for in Chicago as she punished King’s errors to level the scores and take it to a title decider.

In the fifth, it looked as though the title was running away from El Tayeb as King took the lead and held two championship balls before the Egyptian saved both of them and then claimed her second World Series title on the tie-break to win 11-8, 10-12, 11-13, 11-9, 12-10 in 78 minutes.

“I can’t believe it,” said El Tayeb.

“I felt like I lost this match three or four times already! I was down in the fourth, then I was down in the fifth but looking over at Haitham and Ali and I’m very thankful that Raneem and Tarek came to cheer me on and they gave me the encouragement, but I really can’t believe that I won the tournament.

“Everyday I’ve woken up I’ve felt tired but then I know that I can do it, but I don’t think I’ve ever only played five-setters in a tournament. I think I have to give my physical fitness coach a very big bonus!”

Match: [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [4] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
Result: 3-0
Scores: 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 (39m)

Egypt’s number one seed Mohamed ElShorbagy came out on top in the battle with younger brother, Marwan, to claim the men’s Windy City Open title under the chandeliers of the University Club of Chicago’s Cathedral Hall.

The two brothers have faced each other 11 times on the PSA World Tour with their last encounter coming in December’s PSA World Championship final which Mohamed took in a big five-game encounter.

However, Marwan, did beat his brother in Chicago at last year’s tournament but unfortunately lightening did not strike twice for the younger ElShorbagy brother as he could not compete with the relentless pace Mohamed set.

The elder statesman – who has not dropped a single game in the tournament – took no prisoners as he utilised all of his final experience to take the first game, 11-8.

Marwan looked to becoming back in the second, however, Mohamed – who returns to World No.1 next month – was able to outmuscle his brother and showed no signs of fatigue to double his lead.

The World No.2 then refused to let his lead slip as he continued his winning momentum to win 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 to claim his sixth title of a formidable season for the Egyptian.

“It’s been an incredible season,” said ElShorbagy after his seventh final of the season so far.

“After last season – I worked really hard, set new goals that I wanted to achieve, and it just shows that nothing can stop anyone achieving their dream if they work hard for it.

“I took it match by match and I’m really glad to get through this match with my brother. He has played incredible this season and he will still get better. He is learning every day this is the second time we play in a big final and his first world series title will come at the right time – I just wanted to keep it a little bit later then today.

“I remember when I lost last month in New York, I felt like I needed to do more training and it’s the part of the season when there are a lot of matches, so you have to be careful of the tournaments you are playing. I want to thank David Palmer for his help and hopefully I will be back again here next year.”

Result
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [4] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 (39m)

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