Raneem El Weleily


Raneem Mohamed Yasser Saad El Din El Welily is a professional squash player from Egypt. She has reached a career-high world ranking of No. 1 in September 2015. She is a three-time finalist at the World Open, in 2014, 2016, and 2019/2020. She became the World Champion in 2017, after defeating Nour El Sherbini in the finals. El Welily announced her retirement from professional competition in June 2020.

Career

Junior career

Alexandria-born El Welily has emerged as one of the most skillful players on the PSA Women's World Tour since she turned professional in 2002. Raneem followed her brother into squash at the age of six and first played for Egypt in the World Juniors 2001 in Penang, Malaysia, then aged ten.
Two years later when the event was played in Cairo she was part of the Egyptian winning squad, and in 2004 she represented the senior team that came fourth in the World Teams in Amsterdam.
The highlight of El Welily's junior career was when she became the world junior champion in Herentals, Belgium in 2005. Then she was voted WISPA Young Player of the Year for 2005 for the second time after winning it in 2004. She lifted the World Junior Championship twice, in 2005 and 2007. Raneem also is a 6-time British Junior Open Winner.

Professional career

El Welily won her first senior Tour title in 2009 when she triumphed at the Heliopolis Open in Egypt.
That win helped catapult her into the world's top twenty and, after making the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open despite being a qualifier, she promptly rose into the top ten. The Egyptian shot-maker doubled her Tour title tally in 2011 and four months later won the biggest event of her career so far, by topping then-World No.2 Jenny Duncalf to lift the prestigious Carol Weymuller Open.
2012 saw El Welily reach World No.2 for the first time and in September of that year she won her first World Series title by defeating World No.1 Nicol David in the final in the CIMB Malaysian Open. David got her revenge in the US Open a month later before the Egyptian stunned the Malaysian again in the 2013 Cleveland Classic final to lift another crown. El Welily amassed three runner-up spots in the remainder of 2013, with David winning all three, before she won her second Malaysian Open title in 2014, beating Nour El Tayeb in the final.
She reached the final of the World Championship in December 2014 but David proved to be a stumbling block once more as she denied El Welily squash's biggest crown. Undeterred, El Welily had a terrific opening to 2015 as she won the Tournament of Champions, the Windy City Open and the Alexandria International to close the gap on David's hold on the World No.1 ranking. In May 2015 she was named as the PSA Women's Player of the year for the 2014/15 season. In September 2015, Raneem surpassed David to clinch the World No.1 ranking in the PSA Women's World Ranking.

Personal life

El Welily was born and raised in Alexandria. She is married to Tarek Momen, a professional squash player. She graduated from the German School in Alexandria and between training sessions she also finds time to indulge her interests of music, jigsaw puzzles, and sudoku.

Titles (24)

OutcomeYearTournamentLocationOpponent in the finalScore in the final
Winner2009Heliopolis OpenCairo, Egypt Engy Kheirallah7–11, 12–10, 11–6, 11–5
Winner2011Carol Weymuller OpenBrooklyn, United States Jenny Duncalf11–7, 15–13, 11–4
Winner2011Hurghada InternationalHurghada, Egypt Omneya Abdel Kawy11–5, 12–10, 11–9
Winner2012Malaysian Open Squash ChampionshipsKuala Lumpur, Malaysia Nicol David12–10, 11–13, 11–6, 11–2
Winner2012Greenwich OpenNew York City, United States Joelle King11–8, 11–8, 6–11, 11–4
Winner2013Cleveland ClassicCleveland, United States Nicol David3–11, 11–5, 9–11, 11–5, 11–9
Winner2014Malaysian Open Squash ChampionshipsKuala Lumpur, Malaysia Nour El Tayeb7–11, 11–3, 12–10, 2–11, 11–7
Winner2015Tournament of ChampionsNew York City, United States Alison Waters9–11, 12–10, 11–4, 11–4
Winner2015Metro Squash Windy City OpenChicago, United States Nicol David12–14, 12–10, 11–7, 11–7
Winner2015Alexandria InternationalAlexandria, Egypt Omneya Abdel Kawy11–6, 11–5, 11–9
Winner2015China OpenShanghai, China Nouran Gohar13–11, 11–7, 11–7
Winner2016Metro Squash Windy City OpenChicago, United States Nour El Sherbini9–11, 11–6, 11–3, 11–6
Winner2016Al-Ahram InternationalCairo, Egypt Nour El Sherbini11–5, 11–9, 9–11, 9–11, 11–7
Winner2016Wadi Degla OpenCairo, Egypt Nouran Gohar11–8, 7–11, 11–4, 11–5
Winner2017Metro Squash Windy City OpenChicago, United States Nour El Sherbini10–12, 11–7, 11–7, 11–7
Winner2017World OpenManchester, England Nour El Sherbini3–11, 12–10, 11–7, 11–5
Winner2018El Gouna InternationalEl Gouna, Egypt Nour El Sherbini5-11, 11-8, 11-3, 14-12
Winner2018China Squash OpenShanghai, China Camille Serme11–5, 8–11, 11–6, 11–5
Winner2018United States Open Philadelphia, United States Nour El Sherbini11–6, 11–9, 11–8
Winner2019Black Ball Squash OpenCairo, Egypt Nour El Sherbini9-11, 11-2, 6-11, 11-1, 11-5
Winner2019DPD Open Eindhoven, Netherlands Nour El Sherbini10–12, 9–11, 11–8, 11–8, 11–8
Winner2019El Gouna InternationalEl Gouna, Egypt Nouran Gohar11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6
Winner2019PSA World Tour FinalsCairo, Egypt Camille Serme3–11, 8–11, 11–7, 11–4, 11–6
Winner2019Netsuite OpenSan Francisco, United States Nour El Tayeb11–5, 11–5, 11–5

World Open">World Open (squash)">World Open

Finals: 4 (1 title, 3 runners-up)

OutcomeYearLocationOpponent in the finalScore in the final
Runner-up2014Cairo, Egypt Nicol David11–5, 8–11, 11–7, 12–14, 5–11
Runner-up2016El Gouna, Egypt Nour El Sherbini8–11, 9–11, 9–11
Winner2017Manchester, England Nour El Sherbini3–11, 12–10, 11–7, 11–5
Runner-up2019–20Cairo, Egypt Nour El Sherbini11–4, 9–11, 11–5, 11–6