England’s Sam Todd and Egypt’s Nadien Elhammamy have been crowned Quilter Cheviot Cannon Kirk Irish Open champions following Saturday’s finals in Dublin.
Todd, the PSA No.43, was a comfortable 3-0 winner over Ryunosuke Tsukue, the PSA No.61, in the men’s final but Elhammamy, the PSA No.42, upset the odds in the women’s final, holding her nerve after losing a 2-0 lead to clinch an 11-8 victory in the fifth game against Nada Abbas, the PSA No.16.
The 23-year-old Todd had spoken on Friday night in the wake of his 3-1 semi-final win over Emyr Evans, the PSA No.75 from Wales, about not letting his thoughts get carried away when playing in the final.
Previous deciders, he explained, had been lost because he was not fully clued into his task; however, this issue was rectified against Tsukue, and an 11-8 win in the first game was pivotal in the No. 4 seed taking command against the No. 6 seed.
“I’m happy with that performance,” he said in the aftermath of victory in the Copper status tournament, where both the men’s and women’s sections had an equal prize fund of $41,500 each.
“It’s my first world tour title, so it’s good to get one of them over the line. I had been in a couple of finals of these events, but I always missed out and lost.
“For this one, I was very nervous and was just so focused on not looking at the outcome too much and just focusing on one rally at a time.
“I felt like once I got the first game under my belt, it just relaxed me a little bit and I was able to push on. Very happy to close out in three against a tricky opponent.”
The 19-year-old Elhammamy was just as chuffed that she got the job done on her final. The No.5 seed demonstrated her growing confidence in the senior ranks when competently defeating Zeina Mickawy, the No.2 seed and PSA No.30, 3-0 in Friday’s semi-final.
That was Elhammamy’s first time playing fellow Egyptian Mickawy, and this same scenario presented itself in the final, a first-time clash with Abbas, another fellow countrywoman who was seeded No.1 in Dublin where she had won the tournament in 2024.
Elhammamy came out firing, jumping into a 2-0 lead, and she then held her nerve to secure a 3-2 victory after Abbas had fought her way back. “I’m very happy,” she enthused. “This match was one of the best matches I have played in my life.
“I was 2-0 up and doing so well and then in the third game she played well and I lost that one. Then in the fourth, I was 7-2 up, lost my focus a little bit and she kept coming back.
“She is definitely a fighter, and I am just so glad I kept my focus in the fifth game and was able to pull throughh. I am very glad with my overall performance throughout the whole tournament.”
Men’s final
🏴 Sam Todd (No.4 seed and PSA No.43) WON 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-6) v Ryunosuke Tsukue (No.6 seed and PSA No.61) 🇯🇵
Women’s final
🇪🇬 Nadien Elhammamy (No.5 seed and PSA No.42) WON 3-2 (12-10, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 11-8) v Nada Abbas (No.1 seed and PSA No.16) 🇪🇬
