Gohar comeback denies Tayeb
[3] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-2 [4] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 3-11, 8-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-7 (67m)
Nouran Gohar staged a remarkable comeback to deny Nour El Tayeb a second US Open title and claim a first for herself.
Tayeb was on fire in the opening game, hitting winners from everywhere, and although Gohar settled, it was Tayeb who pulled clear from 8-all in the second to go two games up.
Gohar led most of the third, but Tayeb saved a game ball and at 11-10 had a match ball, but Gohar saved that and converted on her third attempt.
Tayeb led 5-1 in the fourth, but Gohar fought back to level the match, then pulled away in the latter part of the decider, jumping for joy on the winning point.
“I can’t believe it,” said Gohar, who after today’s victory, will go to World No.2 in next month’s World Rankings.
“It was so tough out there, I felt my legs burning and like I was doing court sprints with Nour out there in the first two games. I just tried to hang in there and I didn’t want the crowd to be upset about a bad final match. I was thinking ‘that’s the worst final ever’, but it turns out and I hope it was a good one.
“I was trying to impose my game, but Nour was playing better in the beginning. She studied my game plan really well and she caught me off guard in the China Open as well and she was keeping the same style. I was really nervous and I thought ‘just fight, you didn’t work that hard to just let it go’, so for each point I was just telling myself to fight. I tried to adapt, I knew that my plan wasn’t working and I thought when the opportunity came to just take a risk and see how it goes.
“The crowd was amazing and the best ever, I think even better than an Egyptian crowd! It’s really nice for us to have such a good crowd and it cheers you on when you are down.”