Optasia Championships ~ Tuesday 25 to Sunday 30 March 2025

🏆 The 2025 Optasia Championships at The Wimbledon Club are a wrap! 

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2025 CHAMPIONS

CONGRATUATIONS to the 2025 Optasia Championships winners!

The new women’s champion is Hania El Hammamy.  The world No.3 put in a dominant display beating England No.1 Gina Kennedy  3-0 (11-9, 11-2, 11-3) in their final.

In the men’s final world No.2 Mostafa Asal gained his revenge over defending champion Paul Coll after the New Zealander beat Asal in the 2024 semi-finals.  Asal won their 2025 final in straight sets: 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-8).

2025 OPTASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW

It’s official – the Optasia Championships are back for 2025 bigger and better than before!  Once again it will be a men’s PSA World Tour Gold event with a total prize pot of $110,000 at stake.  Alongside, the women’s tournament has also been confirmed as a women’s PSA World Tour Gold event for the first time, also with a total prize pot of $110,000.  World Champion Nouran Gohar & world No.2 Mostafa Asal are set to headline the event.

The 2024 Optasia Championships did not disappoint with Satomi Watanabe and Paul Coll (main picture above) crowned the women’s and men’s champions respectively.  New Zealand’s Coll (the world No.2) fought back from two games down to beat Egypt’s world No.1 Ali Farag 3-2 in a memorable men’s final which lasted just over 90 minutes.  Meanwhile, Watanabe produced the performance of her life to defeat the top seed and world No.4 Nele Gilis 3-0 in the women’s final.  A result which saw the Japanese star claim a first World Tour title.

Now the 2025 championships await.  Six days of action take place from Tuesday 25 to Sunday 30 March at The Wimbledon Club, just over the road from the famous tennis championships.  Fittingly for SW19, Wimbledon’s second biggest sports event will be staged on a tennis court.  One covered in black carpet, with a bar, a TV studio, a large grandstand and an all-glass squash court on it.

👀 Read on for the ‘Ones to Watch’, how to purchase tickets, daily timings and travel tips.

OPTASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS – ONES TO WATCH

Women’s Tournament

The top three players in the world are among the entries.  World champion Nouran Gohar leads the way, with Nour ElSherbini and Hania El Hammamy also set to feature.

Gohar claimed her first world championship title back in May and has gone on to claim four major event titles since then, including the prestigious British Open.  Gohar’s rivalry with ElSherbini reached its peak last year as the pair contested 10 finals against each other.  ElSherbini, a seven-time world champion, is deservedly regarded as one of the greats of the game.

World No.3 El Hammamy endured a challenging 2024, but bounced back in style in the first major event of 2025, beating both of her rivals to win the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions.  The No.4 seeding spot in the women’s tournament has gone to England No.1 Georgina Kennedy.  The Bexley-based world No.6 will be aiming to harness the full support of the London crowd as she goes in search of a first win over one of the ‘Big Three’.  She sits in the same half as No.2 seed ElSherbini.

Men’s Tournament

World No.2 and World Championships finalist Mostafa Asal was beaten in the semi-finals in last season’s event.  He returns as the top seed this year, eager to claim another title and reclaim his world No.1 status.

Defending Optasia champion Paul Coll beat Asal in the semi-finals last year.  And then went on to win an epic final against Farag to claim his fourth title of the 23/24 season.  Coll has struggled to reach the heights that he set himself last year and is desperately searching to find his top form.  Can he make it back-to-back titles in Wimbledon?

British No.1 Joel Makin has made himself incredibly hard to beat this season. The Welshman claimed his biggest title to date in San Francisco earlier in the campaign as well as securing semi-final finishes at the Qatar Classic and Hong Kong Open Platinum events, losing to Asal on both occasions. Makin is always a crowd favourite in events on UK soil and loves to compete in front of a British crowd. He sits in the same half as Asal, so would potentially need to defeat the top seed in order to make a run for a second Gold event win of the season.

BRITISH INTEREST

Plenty of home interest surrounds the event with the Elshorbagy brothers, Declan James, Curtis Malik and wildcards Charlie Lee and Sam Osborne-Wylde providing the English hopes in the men’s event.  In the women’s draw, Sarah-Jane Perry, Jasmine Hutton, Tesni Murphy, Katie Malliff, Alicia Mead, Torrie Malik, Grace Gear and wildcard Lisa Aitken provide the British hopes.

OPTASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS – TICKETS, TIMINGS & DRAW

Book your tickets now for what promises to be a memorable six days of squash at the Optasia Championship featuring the world’s top players!

Tickets

🎟️ TICKETS are on sale via the ‘Get Tickets’ link.  Starting from Adults £20/U16s £10.

🎫 HOSPITALITY/VIP seat packages are available starting from £60.

Timings for Optasia Championships

  DAILY TIMINGS*

*Note: Timings are approximate at this stage and subject to confirmation.

Tuesday 25 March: Round 1 matches.

Morning Session – Door open 11.30am.  Matches start at 12 noon.  Evening Session – Doors open 5pm.  Matches start at 5.30pm.

Wednesday 26 March: Round 2 matches.  

Morning Session – Door open 11.30am.  Matches start at 12 noon.  Evening Session – Doors open 5pm.  Matches start at 5.30pm.

Thursday 27 March: Round 2 matches.

Morning Session – Door open 11.30am.  Matches start at 12 noon.  Evening Session – Doors open 5pm.  Matches start at 5.30pm.

Friday 28 March: Quarter-Finals.

Morning Session – Door open 11.30am.  Matches start at 12 noon.  Evening Session – Doors open 5pm.  Matches start at 5.30pm.pm to 9pm

Saturday 29 March: Semi-Finals.

One session: Doors open at 3pm.  Matches start at 4pm. 

Sunday 30 March: FINALS .

One session: Doors open at 3pm.  Matches start at 4pm.  Pro Squash Challenge (W) & Optasia Championship Final (M).

Draw

🏆 OPTASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS – FULL DRAW

Women’s draw:

[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bye
Kenzy Ayman (EGY) v [9/16] Salma Eltayeb (EGY)
[9/16] Hana Ramadan (EGY) v Mariam Metwally (EGY)
[5] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bye
[8] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bye
Grace Gear (ENG) v [9/16] Melissa Alves (FRA)
[9/16] Tesni Murphy (WAL) v Alicia Mead (ENG)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bye
[4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bye
Aifa Azman (MAS) v [9/16] Katie Malliff (ENG)
[9/16] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Torrie Malik (ENG)
[6] Nada Abbas (EGY) bye
[7] Sana Ibrahim (EGY) bye
[WC] Lisa Aitken (SCO) v [9/16] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[9/16] Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) v Marie Stephan (FRA)
[2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bye

Men’s draw:

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bye
Declan James (ENG) v [9/16] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
[9/16] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) v Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
[6] Karim Gawad (EGY) bye
[8] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bye
[WC] Charlie Lee (ENG) v [9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY)
[9/16] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v Curtis Malik (ENG)
[3] Joel Makin (WAL) bye
[4] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bye
Balazs Farkas (HUN) v [9/16] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)
[9/16] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Raphael Kandra (GER)
[5] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) bye
[7] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) bye
[WC] Samuel Osborne-Wylde (ENG) v [9/16] Iker Pajares (ESP)
[9/16] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v Auguste Dussourd (FRA)
[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bye

TRAVEL TIPS

🚊🚗 Travel tips: The Wimbledon Club is easily accessible using public transport.  Southfields tube station – on the District Line of the London Underground – is a 10 minute walk from the venue.  Wimbledon mainline station – on both the South Western Railway and Thameslink with excellent links into central London and beyond – is approximately a 20 minute walk, or short taxi ride away. Plan your journey at the Transport for London website.  If driving there is a car park at The Wimbledon Club with spaces available on a FCFS basis.  If the car park is full on-street parking is available on surrounding roads subject to local parking restrictions.

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