Eighteen-year-old Amina Orfi becomes squash’s youngest women’s world champion

Amina Orfi became the youngest women’s world champion in squash history on Saturday, defeating world number two Nour El-Sherbini in a five-game final at the PSA World Championships in Giza, Egypt.

The 18-year-old Egyptian won 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 14-12 to claim her first senior world title.

At 18 years and 10 months, Orfi is not only the youngest women’s champion but also the first player to hold both world junior and senior PSA championship titles simultaneously.

“I’m speechless,” Orfi said after securing her 12th PSA title. “I worked so hard to get here and had so many tough losses this season.”

Orfi denied El-Sherbini, 31, a ninth world title. El-Sherbini won her first world championship at age 20.

The final lasted 118 minutes, making it the eighth-longest women’s match in history.

It was also the second-longest women’s PSA World Championships final, exceeded only by Rhonda Thorne and Vicki Hoffman’s marathon in 1981.

El-Sherbini dominated the first game as Orfi struggled to find her rhythm, but the teenager bounced back to win the next two games.

The eight-time champion forced a deciding fifth game by winning the fourth game.

The fifth game featured multiple tie-breaks before Orfi sealed victory with a powerful backhand that El-Sherbini could not return.

Orfi, ranked third in the world, also faced a tough semifinal against top-ranked Hania El-Hammamy, winning in four games.

The teenager lost the first game 10-12 but rallied to win the next three 11-7, 11-8, 11-9.

“I knew there was going to be pressure on both of them – Hania being world number one and Nour being a title away from breaking the record,” Orfi said. “I knew I had the least pressure, and I went for it. I’m just so happy.”

In the men’s final, defending champion Mostafa Asal defeated seventh-seeded Youssef Ibrahim 11-4, 11-1, 12-10 to win his second world title.

Ibrahim reached his first world championship final after beating second-seeded Paul Coll and fourth-seeded former champion Karim Abdel Gawad, but Asal controlled the 57-minute match.

“It feels amazing to win the world championships in front of your family and friends,” said Asal, 25.

“Credit to Youssef Ibrahim. To even be playing here with his shoulder injury, he’s superhuman. He’s a good friend of mine, and we grew up together,” Asal added.

“It’s so hard. I got edgy in the third game. The pressure was on for sure. It’s never easy playing in Egypt to defend a world title. There’s so much pressure playing in front of everyone here,” he said.