Finale
[2] Melissa Alves 3-1 [1] Sana Ibrahim (EGY) 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 (46m)
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Melissa Alves claimed her third Copper event title of the season, beating top seed Sana Ibrahim 3-1 in the Richardson Wealth Women’s PSA Open 2025 final at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis & Badminton Club.
The French No.1 enjoyed success at both the Hamilton Open and the Cape Town Squash Open in the first half of the season, and came into this event as the No.2 seed, but had rising star Ibrahim standing in her way on finals day.
Ibrahim has beaten top-10 players Georgina Kennedy and Nele Gilis-Coll already this season, and was targeting the biggest title of her career, having survived a near-epic comeback from Grace Gear in the semi-finals, taking her ninth match ball after seeing the first eight come and go.
Alves had beaten Ibrahim in their three previous Tour encounters, but the most recent of those came back in 2022, so the 22-year-old – now sitting inside the top 20 – was always likely to provide a sterner test here.
So it proved in the opening game, which Ibrahim took 11-7 after overcoming a slow start that saw her lose the first four points, displaying plenty of the shotmaking skills and attacking intent that had pushed Nour El Sherbini hard in Houston last month.
A backhand into the tin from Alves ended the game but she looked a composed figure as the players headed off court, knowing that she had lost the opening game in two of her three games en route to this final.
She quickly found her length in game two, taking away the opportunities for Ibrahim to attack, racing into a 7-2 lead, and while the Egyptian closed the gap back to 9-7, she was unable to overhaul the deficit, with Alves hitting a forehand tight to the wall that Ibrahim couldn’t return on game ball.
Game three followed a similar pattern to game two, with the second seed opening up an early lead and holding her opponent at arm’s length throughout, this time closing the game out down the backhand side, but on another shot glued to the wall.
With the finish line and the trophy in sight, Alves showed no sign of panic or over-excitement, continuing so stick to her game plan and play tidy and accurate squash, bringing up five match balls with a stroke decision at 9-5.
She only needed one, too, securing glory with a backhand drop that Ibrahim could not return, heading off court to a standing ovation and a round of high-fives from the front row of the crowd.
“They call me the Copper Queen,” she joked after her win.
“That was the goal this season, to try to play some more events and get some wins so you’re confident for the rest of the tournaments. Four matches, four wins and it’s a confidence boost for the rest of the season.
“I lost the first game in pretty much all my matches this week so I wasn’t too worried about that. I don’t know why I can’t win that first game but I got that rhythm back and got a better length starting in the second game.
“I really wanted to win, I really wanted this title. I came here for this and I played well. She did too but I really wanted this win today.”
