Egypt’s world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini made history Monday night by becoming the first player in the Carol Weymuller Open’s forty-four years to win three consecutive titles at Heights Casino in Brooklyn, New York.
Twenty-one-year-old El Sherbini dispatched three compatriots on her way to the final including U.S. Open presented by Macquarie Investment Management champion Nour El Tayeb in the quarterfinals and Salma Hany in the semifinals.
In front of a packed Heights Casino gallery, El Sherbini defeated New Zealand’s world No. 10 Joelle King in a clinical performance, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3, in thirty-three minutes.
“I think it’s my best match since I’ve been in the U.S. for the last two weeks,” El Sherbini said. “My shots were working, I was moving well and I was thinking not to finish everything too quickly. I felt confident going for my shots. I think it was my day! Joelle has been killing it the last two weeks. I think that she has beaten most the top 5 now, Nour, Raneem, Nicol, Laura, everyone. I’m glad it wasn’t my turn. Thank you and see you next year!”
El Sherbini has now defeated King in two of her three Carol Weymuller finals. King concludes a run stateside that saw her reach the U.S. Open semifinals.
“With Nour you just have to blind on,” King said. “I wasn’t seeing the ball quite as sharp and my decision making was not quite as crisp and I was kind of behind the whole way, maybe it was a bit of fatigue. But credit to her, she just did not give me anything and played great squash. The last six weeks have been amazing. It’s been a great block. A couple of weeks of training and then onto Hong Kong.”
The Carol Weymuller Open is one of the longest-established events on the professional tour and is the namesake of Heights Casino pioneer Carol Weymuller.
“Carol started the junior squash program here at The Heights Casino many years back with her late husband Fred, and it has obviously grown and expanded along with the sport,” said Linda Elriani, Heights Casino Pro and Tournament Director. “We always like to thank Carol for all her hard work and dedication back at the start, as we wouldn’t be where we are today with our program if she had not been forward thinking enough to develop squash in this area.”
Watch replays of Carol Weymuller Open matches here.
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