Orfi and Coll Retain Titles

Egypt’s Amina Orfi and New Zealand’s Paul Coll defended their trophies at the London Squash Classic with wins over England’s Georgina Kennedy and France’s Victor Crouin at Alexandra Palace.

Orfi has captured the 14th PSA title of her career following a dominant 11-6, 11-8, 11-2 victory over England No.1 Kennedy. Kennedy had beaten World No.1 Hania El Hammamy in a landmark victory 24 hours prior but was unable to live with Orfi’s accuracy and severe hitting today.

The win means Orfi will go to the Qatar Classic later this month with the chance of dethroning El Hammamy to become the youngest woman to reach World No.1.

“I expected a tough battle from her and I’m really happy to win,” said Orfi afterwards.

“I played really well today and to win this title again means a lot to me. It’s my first time defending the title and hopefully there’s more to come.

“I’m excited [for the World No.1 battle]. It’s a long way for both of us [Orfi and El Hammamy] to the final though and we don’t know how the rest of the top eight have trained because we haven’t played with all of them at this tournament. It’s going to be interesting to see what each player brings. If I get it done in Qatar, it will be amazing.”

Coll has won his third successive London Classic trophy after a comprehensive victory over Crouin, winning 11-6, 11-5, 11-3.

The Kiwi – who also won the Canary Wharf Classic (the precursor to the London Classic) on three occasions – has now lifted the 34th title of his career and did so without dropping a single game during this season’s tournament.

“I’m stoked, I was really happy with my length hitting and ball striking,” Coll said.

“I think it’s the best I’ve ever struck it consistently. Victor was putting the backhand drops in really well and he was solid, so I impressed myself with that today.

“Having Nele [wife and World No.11] on tour with me, she’s got her own career to focus on, but she’s given me so much support this week after a tough week for her. It shows her character and having her with me here all week made it so much more enjoyable for me.”

The next stop on the PSA Squash Tour will be the Qatar Classic Platinum-level tournament
from 12th to 18th September where Coll and Orfi are both seeded at No.2.