I've been absolutely hooked on live squash since the start of the season and, as expected the 2025 CIB Egyptian Open has provided some cracking matches.
There are two in particular that really caught my attention, one that most of you who follow professional squash can probably predict, and one that may have flown under the radar a little.
They're both very different matches from a style and scoreline perspective, and, there is a lot to dissect from each.
For this article, I thought I'd break down each one.
I'll delve into the players, give a bit of info about their career and background, then I'll go into the matches, scorelines, tactics, and other factors that may have impacted these results.
Also, just before I dive in, I should mention that I'm writing this on 09/16 and the quarter-finals are yet to be played.
By the time you're reading this, there may well have been even more exciting matches on display, however, I believe that we can all learn a lot from the two matches below for many different reasons ...
According to the PSA, this could very well be the biggest upset that we've seen in professional squash.
World No.252, Adam Hawal, who was also the wildcard in the CIB Egyptian Open, beat World No.3, Paul Coll.
Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to watch this one in real time, however, as soon as I saw all the media coverage of the result, I knew it would be one to watch back over.
But first, a bit of background on the players.
Since Hawal is still a junior, there is of course limited information about him online.
Hopefully the following is accurate, but, as always, please let me know if there are any discrepancies!
Born on the 1st of August 2008, Adam has only recently turned 17, he's 171cm tall and weighs 70kg, however, I would add that he clearly has a very strong frame on him.
He's had two years on the PSA World Tour so far and has a highest ranking of 199 which he reached in April (however, that's very likely to change in the next ranking update).
He's played 8 tournaments and 25 matches, winning 18 of them and losing 7.
Of course, these numbers are quite insignificant at such an early stage in Hawal's career.
Coll on the other hand, needs no introduction.
Weighing 83kg and standing at 179cm tall, the New Zealander is aged 33 and has a pretty awesome squash record so far.
He reached World No. 1 in March 2022, becoming the first New Zealand man to achieve the top ranking in professional squash.
He took over the top spot from Egypt's Ali Farag after an awesome run of victories
On top of that, he's got 15 years of professional squash under his belt, 187 tournaments, and 604 matches. Of those matches, he's won 446 of them and lost 158.
He's also reached 48 finals and has 29 titles to his name.
It's clear to say that Paul Coll is one of the best squash players around right now, so, the question is, what happened in his match against Adam Hawal?
Well, Coll did manage to take a pretty assertive lead in the first game, which he won 11-3.
This was my first time watching Hawal so I was interested to see his style and gameplan.
The Egyptian has a ever-so-slightly unorthodox swing style, especially on the backhand. His swing is large and almost a bit wristy too.
He certainly likes to hit hard, however, Coll's ability to control that pace using accuracy and shot selection seemed to be a bit of a kryptonite for Hawal.
On to the second game, Adam's potential nerves seemed to have worn off at this point and he started hitting his targets more consistently. He also began feathering in some nice winners, forcing Coll to make uncomfortable movements and changes of direction.
I will mention at this point that Coll didn't seem to be playing as well as expected. He wasn't moving as smoothly as usual, and his shots were starting to feel (and look) a little bit forced.
Some comments I read on Instagram clips and the YouTube highlights suggested that this may be down to the fact that this match was coming off the back of a big recent win at the London Squash Classic 2025 a couple of weeks back where the Kiwi beat Joel Makin 3-0 in the final.
However, another theory that I have is the fact that this match was played on a traditional court.
We're very used to seeing professional squash being played on a full glass court, which actually play very differently when compared to traditional concrete or plaster courts.
I feel as though this isn't talked about enough in the world of squash, as it's almost two completely different games. I've noticed that a lot more upsets seem to happen on traditional courts.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the ball seems to be much more lively and bouncy on traditional courts, meaning that short shots and accurate lengths aren't rewarded as much since they're easier to retrieve.
For players like Coll who will be used to tournaments on glass courts, it's like a whole other game.
Glass courts, on the other hand, are a little more dead, meaning that soft drops are harder to get back, and, it's easier to get deep lengths to die in the back corners.
But, perhaps that's a topic for another newsletter.
I'm not trying to play Hawal's result down either, as Coll will undoubtedly do a lot of his training on traditional courts, I'm just mentioning that it vastly changes the style of squash.
Anyway, in that second game, Hawal did a great job of mixing up the pace. He was slowing things down, then speeding them back up, then following this up with some lovely winning shots.
Despite Paul taking a 7-5 lead in this one, Adam won it 11-9.
The all important third game
Coll just seemed a little bit more passive than usual, whereas Hawal, who was clearly hungry (and the underdog), had less pressure on his shoulders, meaning that he had the confidence to pull off some great winning shots.
There were a few pretty big rallies in that third game, and, Coll actually had a game ball after going 10-9 up. Hawal played it calm and patient with his length game, which was great to see.
The Egyptian came back and won that one 13-11.
The fourth game was also pretty tight, Coll managed to take an early lead to go 6-3 up, however, Adam clung to his heels without giving up.
The New Zealander actually had another opportunity to convert ball in this game too, going 10-9 up yet again, however, Hawal pulled ahead once again to go 11-10 up.
With a match ball opportunity, Hawal pulled out a perfect serve from the forehand side that Coll mistakenly tried to chip off the side wall and ended up hitting the ball into the floor.
As expected, Hawal was over the moon with this result, and you could hear the Egyptian crowd going crazy off-court. It was certainly a huge moment for the junior.
Paul on the other hand was not happy. In fact, he ended up smashing his racquet off the side wall.
That just goes to show how frustrated he was to lose in the early rounds of such an important event.
One other thing I'll mention about Hawal is his awesome movement. He's unbelievably explosive, perhaps partly due to his young ago.
The way he flies onto balls in the front corners is eerily similar to that of Mostafa Asal when he was first starting on the PSA Squash Tour.
We'll certainly be seeing more of Adam Hawal in the future, and, after watching his post match interview, I look forward to it. He seems like an incredibly happy, down-to-earth character with a lot of respect for his fellow players.
In his post match interview, Hawal said:
“I can’t believe I beat him, he’s a very good player. He’s amazing and a tremendous player, on and off court. I talked to him this morning and I can’t believe it! After that first game I just thought I’m going to put 100 percent effort in, I was jumping on every ball and it paid off. I was just a little kid watching this tournament at the pyramids and it’s such a privilege to play there. The ancient pyramids are in our DNA and I get to be a Pharaoh tomorrow!"
It's great to see him so aware and proud of the gravity of his achievement, and, his excitement for playing in front of the pyramids shows he's got passion too.
Lastly, perhaps this isn't as important, but, I did watch Hawal's following match against Fares Dessouky.
This one was on the glass court and it looked like a different game entirely. Perhaps this is down to Adam's lack of experience on those less-lively full-glass courts, but, his lengths seemed to be overhit a lot more frequently.
Needless to say, Fares was pouncing on every weak shot and played a near flawless match to take the win 3-0.
That doesn't take anything away from Hawal, though, who will be able to use his wildcard experience in this event as a major learning curve.
You can watch the highlights from that match on the SquashTV YouTube channel by clicking here (just make sure to head back to our newsletter to read the next sections)!
Image credit: Steve Cubbins
This match flew under the radar a little too much for my liking, however, I couldn't believe my eyes when I was watching it in real time.
It's not necessarily a super high-quality, tight clash from start to finish, but, I think that Hania El Hammamy's third round match with Salma Hany shows just how effective it can be to take a step back and change your gameplan a little.
A bit of background on both players, Hania currently sits at World No.3 and has been as high as World No.2.
She's yet to reach the elusive World No.1 spot, however, she has been in battle with the other two members of 'the big three' for that accolade for some time now.
Maybe this is her year!
Nour El Sherbini, the current World No.2, and Nouran Gohar, the current World No.1 are the other two members of 'the big three'.
All three Egyptians have dominated the top three ranking spots for years now, jostling back and forth and developing some pretty big rivalries.
In particular, El Hammamy and Gohar always have fierce clashes whenever they meet.
Anyway, Hania is 170cm tall, 25 years old, and has been a professional for 12 years now. She's really at that sweet spot where she's still very young, but, has plenty of experience under her belt at that tip top level.
She's played 105 tournaments and 345 matches winning 255 of them and losing 90.
Unofficially nicknamed the leopard (or someties the gazelle), Hania has made 29 finals and won 14 titles.
Salma Hany, aged 29 and standing at 162cm tall, has also got an abundance of experience as a professional player with 15 years on the PSA Squash Tour.
Also from Egypt, Hany has been as high as World No.7 and currently sits at World No.15.
She's played 153 tournaments and 352 matches, winning 203 of them and losing 149. Hany has made 10 finals, claiming 4 of those as titles.
Now, the reason I wanted to talk about this match is because it was a five-setter, but, the scoreline is incredibly interesting.
I'll walk through each game now, then reflect back at the end.
In the first game, the pair seemed pretty neck-and-neck.
Salma was hitting her targets well, taking balls early, and being very proactive with pace.
Hania was doing a great job of matching that pace, however, she seemed ever-so-slightly hesitant when it came to taking the ball in short. It's hard to tell whether she was being passive, or, whether there were some nerves at play.
I had a quick look at their head-to-head ratio on the PSA website and, of the 7 times that they've met, Hania has won the last 5, with Hany winning their first two clashes all the way back in 2016.
That's not to say that Hania shouldn't be cautious, however, her main strength is her fight and sheer drive to win every rally.
I wasn't seeing this as much as usual in the first game.
I don't actually think that Hammamy did much wrong here, but, Salma just seemed that bit more attacking and proactive when it came to finishing off rallies.
Hany took the first 11-9 with a textbook crosscourt nick feathered in from the backhand side, following a slightly weak serve from Hania.
The second game was the same story, Hania seemed to be taking it in short at the wrong time and then ending up under pressure from the pace of Hany.
Throughout this game, Salma was pulling some awesome shots out the bag too.
She was playing textbook, high-paced squash, taking balls early, hitting low and hard, and chopping them in short when the right opportunity came.
Her shot selection was absolutely on point.
After taking a 9-4 lead in that second game, Hania started to find her feet again and pulled it back to 9-8, and, in hindsight, I think that this was a glimpse of what was to come next.
But, Hany stuck to her guns and, despite Hammamy taking a step forward and becoming way more proactive, Salma took the second game 12-10 to go 2-0 up.
A 2-0 lead against a player of Hammamy's caliber must still feel like a mountain to climb for Hany, however, she had played incredible up until this point.
But, after seeing the way that Hania came back from 9-4 down, it was clear that something had changed. If I was a betting man and the odds were good, I had a feeling that it was comeback time.
But, I really didn't expect it to be quite so extreme.
If you've watched Hania El Hammamy play the likes of Gohar and El Sherbini in the past, you'll know that she's an absolute warrior.
She gets pumped up after those big points and feeds off the fast-paced game.
Once the momentum is on El Hammamy's side, she can be very hard to stop, and, that's exactly what happened here.
Rather than go through the next games one by one, I'll just summarise it for you ...
Hania came back to win 11-3, 11-1, 11-4.
And, it happened in the blink of an eye.
This was one of the most interesting five-setters I've ever seen, and, I don't think many other players could turn the tides that extremelly other than Hania.
She went off court after closely losing that second game, and, when she came back on, she was focused and much more up for the fight.
After that, every shot was purposeful and proactive. Her lengths were hit with pace and were dying well, plus, her short shots were now being played at the right time and hitting their targets.
I think that she figured out in the latter stages of that second game that she needed to be ever so slightly more proactive when on the T, and be less-safe with her margins when taking it in short, as this was putting her under more pressure in the long run.
Other than that, I don't think she majorly changed her tactics, but instead, she changed her mindset, zeroed in on her goal and focused on only that.
With that said, one more specific thing that Hania changed up was her shot selection from the front, she started countering a little more, but, more importantly, she started going straight instead of cross court.
As Saurav Ghosal (who is commentating) pointed out in the third game, every time Hania went cross court from Hany's boasts and drops, Hany was reading it and pouncing on it.
I don't want to take anything away from Salma Hany here, as she put in a superb performance to go 2-0 up. She was doing all the right things, but, sometimes there's no stopping the train that is Hania once she's up for the fight.
I think we can learn from this match in particular.
It says a lot about the importance of mindset, focus, momentum, and, as cliche as it is, not giving up when the sticks are down.
Rather than becoming frustrated with her passive performance against a lower ranked player (which can be very mentally tough to overcome), Hania instead used this as fuel to spark that fire that would allow her to go on and blow her opponent off the court.
You can watch the highlights from this match on the SquashTV YouTube channel by clicking here, just make sure to head back to check out our 'Around the Web' section below!
This article was taken from our On The 'T' Newsletter, if you're interested in receiving more content like this, please feel free to sign up using the subscribe section located at the bottom left of this page (or underneath the article if you're on mobile), thanks!