It wasn’t easy, but Ali Farag solidified his status as the best Squash player in the world as he retained his title at the Egyptian Open in the stunning location, in front of the Pyramids.

Farag was up against, friend and rival, Mohamed ElShorbagy and it was ElShorbagy that got off to the better start, taking the first 2 games. However, the world No.1 wasn’t be outdone so easily and really took the match to ElShorbagy from that moment on. He drew out the rallies and moved his opponent around the court, tiring him out. Farag went onto dominate the following 3 games from there. The match finished 3-2: 6-11, 9-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5 (74m).

“I am feeling amazing. It can’t get any better,” said Farag. “Playing at such a venue against the greatest rival of my career and the greatest of our generation. To be able to come back from 2-0 down is something that I am really proud of. As always, I am very proud to be able to share the court with such a great champion like Mohamed. I learn a lot from him every year.

“We have played in almost every Platinum event final, but we didn’t play in the most special one until today. We delivered a match for the crowd that they really deserve.”

The next stop on the PSA World Tour which will be the Oracle NetSuite Open, PSA Gold event which takes place in San Francisco from September 23-27.