El Hammamy and Asal retain their titles in contrasting styles at Optasia Championship

Defending champions Hania El Hammamy and Mostafa Asal successfully retained their crowns, on an exciting finals day at the Optasia Championships 2026, coming through contrasting final matches with Nour ElSherbini and Diego Elias at the famous Wimbledon Club on Sunday. El Hammamy scored a 3-0 win over ElSherbini in 39 minutes, while Asal overcame a gritty Elias 3-2 in a fierce battle which took 93 minutes to resolve.

“I feel great, I get to live another day at world No.1,” said El Hammamy. “I’m really proud of how I played and how I conducted myself, it was a big test, the first time I was playing in a match that could take me down to World No.2 so I’m really, really happy and very proud that I managed to maintain my composure.

“It makes it extra special to be able to come here and play like that against Nour El Sherbini. There’s no other player like her, she can come back from any scenario, she saves her best squash for the big moments, she’s such a great champion and I’ve learned a lot from her over the years.”

El Hammamy shows her class

El Hammamy was the holder of the coveted World No.1 position but a win for ElSherbini would see her overtake her compatriot and reach the summit for the first time in over two years.

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Top seed El Hammamy raced out of the blocks to take a commanding 9-3 lead in the first game. Despite the eight-time World Champion gaining some momentum at the end of the game to chase down El Hammamy, the top seed converted 11-9 to take the lead in the match.

In a much tighter second game, ElSherbini was now looking like she had found her rhythm on the all-glass court in Wimbledon. The World No.2 managed to pull a point ahead to earn the first game ball of game two at 10-9. El Hammamy battled back to win the next three points in a row and steal the game from the grasp of her compatriot to take a huge 2-0 lead.

El Hammamy has only ever lost after leading 2-0 twice in her career, the last coming six years ago in the Black Ball Open final against Sarah-Jane Perry. El Hammamy was determined to continue this run and not open the door for ElSherbini, who is notorious for mounting epic comebacks.

The score reached 6-5 but El Hammamy showed her class to pull ahead to 10-6, earning four match balls. El Hammamy watched as ElSherbini’s backhand volley sailed out of court, giving El Hammamy a second consecutive Optasia Championships title and ensured the World No.1 would remain at the top of the PSA World Rankings.

Asal was stretched by Elias

Asal’s form heading into the men’s final was exemplary, still yet to drop a single game since October, all eyes were on the reigning champion as he eyed another faultless tournament. Elias, however, might have been feeling the effects of his semifinal match with Karim Gawad, a match which saw Elias recover from 2-0 down to reach the final. The first game did look as though Elias was still suffering from his semifinal efforts as Asal dominated the opening exchanges, resulting in an 11-8 win for the Egyptian.

Mostafa Asal and Diego Elias played out a thriller before the former won 3-2. Pics: PSA Squash Tour

The second game saw a complete reversal as Elias’ body started to activate, as did his squash. Before his injury, the Peruvian had been the only player who could trouble Asal on a consistent basis and the Wimbledon crowd saw why in game two as he rattled through the winners to take the game 11-5, the first game Asal has conceded in 70 on the PSA Squash Tour.

As expected, Asal then responded in style to take game three 11-5 and look to be back in control of the final. Elias is a former World Champion and former World No.1, and he needed to become that version of himself to claw his way back into the match. The current World No.3 found himself three match balls down in the fourth but somehow found a way to neutralise Asal and won five points in a row to force a decider. The end came quick for Elias however as after Asal raced out to a 6-0 lead, it was clear that another comeback was beyond the fatigued Elias. 11-5 was the final score in the deciding game, giving Asal a fourth consecutive title win and extending his unbeaten streak to 24 matches.

“There were lots of things happening. I hope everyone was entertained today,” said Asal. “To be honest, I’m very happy Diego is back. You can see how strong and physical and entertaining he is. He is one of the assets of the tour; it’s a nightmare to play against him but I’m glad he’s back. We can have some problems sometimes but we will speak after this match so we can just focus on the squash. I know it can be frustrating with these issues but we need to be more fluid, otherwise we’ll go backwards.

“I’m really pleased with today’s match and the crowd were entertained and that I could win the Optasia title once again. I’m really happy to defend the title in front of Bassim and thank you all so much.”

Results (finals): Women: 1-Hania El Hammamy (EGY) beat 2-Nour ElSherbini (EGY) 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-6).

Men: 1-Mostafa Asal (EGY) beat 3-Diego Elias (PER) 3-2 (11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5).