Orfi, only 18 years old, denied fellow Egyptian ElSherbini a record-breaking ninth world title, winning 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 14-12 in the longest women’s final of the modern scoring era at the CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships.
Orfi surpassed the age record previously held by El-Sherbini and became the first female player to hold the World Junior and senior World Championship titles simultaneously.
“I’m speechless, I worked so hard to get here,” Orfi said after claiming her 12th professional title.
“I knew there was going to be pressure on Nour, being a title away from breaking the record. I knew I had the least pressure and I went for it,” she added.
The gruelling triumph capped a remarkable campaign for Orfi, who had earlier battled past world number one Hania El Hammamy in a 103-minute semi-final.
ElSherbini, competing in her 12th World Championship final, had been aiming to move clear of Malaysian great Nicol David’s record of eight world titles.
In the men’s final, top seed Asal became only the sixth man to win back-to-back world titles after defeating seventh seed Youssef Ibrahim 11-4, 11-1, 12-10 in 56 minutes.
Ibrahim had reached his maiden World Championship final despite playing through a shoulder injury that will require surgery next week, but struggled to cope with Asal’s pace and precision for much of the match.
The 27-year-old mounted a late comeback in the third game, recovering from 10-8 down to force a tiebreak before Asal sealed victory and secured the 29th PSA Tour title of his career.
“It feels amazing to win the World Championships in front of your family and friends,” Asal said.
“Credit to Youssef Ibrahim. To even be playing here with his shoulder injury, he’s superhuman,” he added.
The PSA Tour will next move to Birmingham for the British Open from 30 May to 7 June.
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