2022 Finals Day : Farag triumphs in four

Finals day at The Wimbledon Club with a Pro Squash Challenge preceding the Optasia Championship final, and top seed Ali Farag finally broke his English title duck as he came from a game down to beat Diego Elias in four games.

Optasia Championship 2022 : FINAL, Fri 11th Mar

[1] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-1 [3] Diego Elias (Per)        4-11, 11-8 , 11-8, 13-11 (53m)

FULL DRAW   LIVE SCORING WATCH on SquashTV PHOTO GALLERY

Farag claims first major title in England

It didn’t start well for top seed Ali Farag, who enjoyed a H2H 13-2 advantage over opponent Diego Elias including their last ten meetings, but needed physio treatment after injuring himself in the warm-up.

And once the match started it was clear that the Egyptian was still struggling with his movement as Elias took the opener 11-4.

Farag was back to his usual self in the second and third  as he stayed ahead, taking both games 11-8.

Elias built up a 9-7 lead in the fourth, but Farag earned match ball, then saved game ball befofre finally clinching the title 13-11 to become the sixth different winner of this event in its sixth edition.

“First and foremost sorry for delaying the final,” said Farag.

“It was an unfortunate incident at the very last minute before I got on court, in the last lunges I felt a spasm in my back. I really didn’t want it to happen, but I can’t thank Gerry the PSA physio enough, they’ve worked magic and as long as they told me it couldn’t get any worse, I just kept pushing and adapting my game plan accordingly and I’m very happy with the way I got through it.

“My wife is playing a tournament at Black Ball in Egypt, so I have to be doing the parenting duties next week, while she focuses on her tournament and then I’ll be back training for the British Open at the end of the month.

“I fancy my chances at every tournament that I play. I play every tournament to win it, but obviously there are a lot of big names in the draw and I’m not the only one aiming for that tournament as well. Finally, I get a hand on a trophy on British soil, I’ve reached six finals here, two of which were the Optasia and couldn’t convert any. I’m extremely happy to win finally here.”