Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad, ranked second internationally, and winner of the 2016 UCS Swedish Squash Open, failed to keep the championship’s title this year after he lost the 2017 UCS Swedish Squash Open’s final to France’s Gregory Gaultier, ranked third internationally. The French champion won the final by 3-1 (7-11/11-3/11-0/11-8).
After this victory, Gaultier achieved his third UCS Swedish title, as he won it previously in 2012 and 2013.
The first Egyptian to win this championship was Karim Darwish in 2004.
Gaultier seeded second in the 2017 Swedish Open, and qualified to the final after winning the semifinal match without giving a chance to his opponent, Germany’s Simon Rösner, to win even a single game. The match’s result was 3-0 (11-9/13-11/11-8) to the French champion.
Abdel Gawad, seeded number one in this championship, won the other semifinal against Scottish Alan Clyne. The Scottish player made a good start by winning the first game 10-12. The Egyptian champion then turned the tables, winning the following three consecutive games by 11-4/11-8/11-5.
This is the second time for Abdel Gawad and Gaultier to meet in a final in 2017. The previous one was the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions final, which took place in New York on 19 January. It was a tough battle which ended 3-1 (6-11/11-6/12-10/11-7) in Abdel Gawad’s favour.
The first meeting this year between the French and the Egyptian champions was in a friendly match at the Squash Fight Night which took place on 7 January in Houston. Abdel Gawad was the winner of this match.
