World Champions Amina Orfi and Mostafa Asal continued their superb form as they marched into the semi-finals of the season-ending PSA Squash Tour Finals, which began yesterday at Centquarte-Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PSA Squash Tour Finals \u2013 which is taking place in France for the first time in the event\u2019s history \u2013 brings together the top eight male and female players on the Race to the Finals standings, with points on offer at all PSA Squash Tour events during the 2025-26 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orfi began her tournament with an 11-1, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5 victory over Belgium\u2019s Tinne Gilis, who was brought into the tournament at late notice following the withdrawal of USA\u2019s World No.4 Olivia Weaver due to injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orfi \u2013 who has won the World Championships and British Open in the past month \u2013 can become the youngest women\u2019s World No.1 in history if she either wins the PSA Squash Tour Finals or reaches the final and current incumbent Hania El Hammamy loses her quarter-final match tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNormally, I wouldn\u2019t play her in the first match and starting from the quarters is quite weird,\u201d said Orfi, who is appearing at her maiden PSA Squash Tour Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with how I managed this match and it\u2019s great that there are so many people here in the crowd right from day one. All of us are exhausted after this season, but I\u2019m telling myself that this is a fun tournament and you have the opportunity to showcase your best squash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t focus on it [being the No.1 seed at this event] because I\u2019m not No.1 in the rankings yet. It gives me a bit more confidence but not necessarily pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orfi will play Malaysia\u2019s World No.5 Sivasangari Subramaniam for a place in the title decider. Sivasangari overcame Japan\u2019s Satomi Watanabe by an 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 to claim her eighth win over the World No.6 in nine matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of battles with Satomi since we were 10 years old,\u201d said Sivasangari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe grew up playing together in Asia, and now we\u2019re playing at the PSA Squash Tour Finals amongst the top eight players in the world. I\u2019m happy for her and we always have good battles, it\u2019s always fair and it\u2019s always a good match. I didn\u2019t perform too well at the British Open, but I\u2019m happy I could back myself here and play well again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s event, Asal will meet World No.3 Diego Elias in the last four, with the pair beating Marwan ElShorbagy and home favourite Victor Crouin, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asal was forced to retire from the men\u2019s British Open final a fortnight ago due to illness, but he was in full flow against ElShorbagy in a highly-entertaining battle which saw both players attack at will as they came to entertain the spectators in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asal has reached the five previous finals at the PSA Squash Tour Finals \u2013 winning three of them \u2013 and he is aiming to become only the second man after the legendary Jansher Khan to win this tournament four times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSquash can be enjoyable like that when you don\u2019t focus on decisions and you just focus on our squash,\u201d said Asal afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMarwan and I put on a show today, we were hitting so many winners. It was an amazing match and I really enjoyed it. I haven\u2019t played in France many times, but I played at the Paris Squash at the circus, and it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asal and Elias will meet for the 22nd time on the PSA Squash Tour, with Asal winning their last two meetings, including in the semi-finals of the British Open. Elias came back from a game down to end Crouin\u2019s tournament in front of his own fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVictor beat me the last couple of times and I knew it was going to be tough,\u201d said Elias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always fun coming back to Paris and I always have a great time. I knew it would be different playing a French player, but it\u2019s always great playing here. There are only one or two matches left in the season and then I\u2019ll enjoy a rest for a good few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): <\/strong>[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [8] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG)\u00a03-0: 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 (36m); [4] Diego Elias (PER) bt [5] Victor Crouin (FRA)\u00a03-1: 10-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 (67m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): <\/strong>[1] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [8] Tinne Gilis (BEL)\u00a03-1: 11-1, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5 (57m); [4] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [5] Satomi Watanabe (JPN)\u00a03-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 (35m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" World Champions Amina Orfi and Mostafa Asal continued their superb form as they marched into the semi-finals of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-13937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t