RESULTS: Hurghada International, Hurghada, Egypt
Final:
[1] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [3] Engy Kheirallah (EGY) 11-4, 11-8, 14-12 (36m)
Omneya Abdel Kawy celebrated her seventh successive appearance in the final of the Women's Hurghada International by winning the $26,200 WISPA World Tour squash title for the fourth time at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
Top seed Abdel Kawy faced third seed Engy Kheirallah on the all-glass court sited on the Promenade in the first all-Egyptian final in the event's nine-year history.
And - remarkably - despite being ranked ahead of her Egyptian team-mate throughout her career, Abdel Kawy had lost to Kheirallah in all their previous five Tour meetings since September 2005.
It was an eagerly-anticipated clash which was screened live on Egyptian TV and watched by a packed crowd which included the Egyptian Minister for Sport.
But, as ever when two home players were competing, the noise level was muted. The applause was initially for trademark black-clad Abdel Kawy, as the 'Queen of Hurghada' found an early rhythm and punished loose shots - romping to the first game against a clearly nervous opponent.
Clearly boosted by advice between games by husband Karim Darwish, the former world number one, Kheirallah came back fighting, more judicious in going short and holding her own against the defending champion.
"But when you can slot three backhand volleyed returns of serve into the opposite nick, as Abdel Kawy breathtakingly did to close out the second game, what can you do?" said a spokesman for the event.
The difference in the third was not obvious, excepting that this time Kheirallah was flowing a little more freely and getting her nose just in front. The underdog reached 10-9 only to have failed to learn the lessons of the second and find her opponent's serve nestling in the same nick!
A match ball was saved on a stroke, as was the second on an athletic stretching volley drop, but the third was simply too good - a straight drop to give Abdel Kawy an 11-4, 11-8, 14-12 victory after 36 minutes. The lady in black's losing run had been stopped - and a third Hurghada title in a row, and a fourth in all, was in the hands of the world No6 from Cairo.
As she left the arena with her father, the winner was smiling as much with relief as pleasure: "This is the first time I have beaten her in WISPA. Maybe I am thinking of the ranking as I am higher," said Abdel Kawy. "But everybody knows she is a good player and we have hard matches.
"This time, when we started, I saw Engy was not moving, her legs were tight so I took advantage of this. But she came back tough and I had to work really hard to win," added the victor after her fourth WISPA Tour final in a row this year, but her first win.
"Thank God, as it was the fourth final this year, and the first to win!"
A for the runner-up, she was mixing delight with having reached the final but disappointed not to have done better. "Hats off to Omneya, she played really well. I normally play a certain way against her but on this court I didn't feel comfortable or confident. I would have loved to have won but I played well to reach the final so I am quite happy," said Kheirallah, the Alexandria-born world No14.