England’s Jasmine Hutton and Mohamed ElShorbagy have retained their British Nationals Squash Championships titles after overcoming Welsh duo Tesni Evans and Joel Makin tonight at the St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club in Weybridge.
Hutton has captured her second Nationals title after her match with two-time winner Evans was sadly cut short due to an injury to the No.2 seed. After fighting back from two games down to level, Evans pulled up when chasing down a Hutton drop mid-way through the fifth game. Despite treatment from the physio, Evans was unable to continue, handing the title to Hutton.
Everyone involved with the British Nationals wishes Evans a speedy recovery.
After the match, Hutton said: “I’m really gutted for Tesni. We were having an absolute battle out there and it’s a horrible way to finish and win an event.
“I wish her a speedy recovery. We have got a really busy season ahead so all the best to her and she is an absolute legend.
“I feel like I really took myself out of my comfort zone and flew over to Florida for a good four weeks [during the summer training. block]. There was a lot of fitness, early mornings, there was fitness every day no matter what and I feel really amazing.”
Meanwhile, men’s top seed ElShorbagy has made it two Nationals titles from two Nationals appearances after he got the better of No.2 seed Makin by an 11-7, 12-10, 11-5 scoreline.
The pair were meeting in a repeat of last year’s final – with ElShorbagy winning in straight games on that occasion – and neither player had dropped a game coming into today’s title decider.
Makin was appearing in his fourth successive final but couldn’t match ElShorbagy’s accuracy as the 32-year-old successfully defended his title.
“I think the tactic before the match was to try and play [James] Willstrop [four-time Nationals winner] tactics a little bit, with the ball control and the accuracy,” said ElShorbagy.
“I’m really happy to win the title. It’s such a historic event and I want to show how serious I am about this event and how important it is for me, being national champion is a big thing for me.
“I think it is such a great step from England Squash to have the Nationals at different events all across the country, and I will hope to be back again next year.”
Results – Men’s Final: 2023 British National Squash Championships
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt [2] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-0: 11-7, 12-10, 11-5 (53m)Results – Women’s Final: 2023 British National Squash Championships
[5] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) bt [2] Tesni Evans (WAL) 3-2: 13-11, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 5-3 ret. (67m)
