Professional Career
El Hindi reached his first Tour final in Spain at the Trofeo Aquarius Open in October 1999 - but it was a further two years later, in the same country, that he claimed his maiden title at the Spanish Open in Tenerife, in September 2001. Early the following year, he won his first trophy on home soil at the El Ahly Open in Cairo.
In 2004, El Hindi began a love-affair with Malaysia where he won the Kuala Lumpur Open in February - then went on to reach the final of the Malaysian Open later in the year, and again in 2005, in both cases exceeding his seeding. His standout achievements in 2006 included home country success in the Heliopolis Open in August 2006 - when he made his breakthrough after beating Finland's second seed Olli Tuominen in the quarter-finals. The following month, unseeded, he burst into the last eight of the World Open - also in Egypt - after beating seeded compatriot Karim Darwish and England's Nick Matthew.
El Hindi began 2007 by again beating higher-seeded Darwish en route to a semi-final berth in the Canadian Classic in January. In April, he produced impressive performances in both the Kuwait Open and Qatar Classic (in Doha, featuring upsets over Anthony Ricketts and Lee Beachill) which saw him leap four places to make his top ten debut in May. In July, he successfully defended his Heliopolis Open crown after overcoming fellow Egyptians in each round - Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, Omar Elborolossy and Mohammed Abbas, then Karim Darwish in the final.
El Hindi's 2008 campaign began with a quarter-final berth in the Tournament of Champions in January, then the following month he exceeded his seeding in the Canadian Classic in Toronto, where he beat Australian Cameron Pilley to set up a surprise all-Egyptian semi-final line-up. In May, Wael made his debut in the Super Series Finals in London, where he beat Ong Beng Hee en route to recording a sixth-place finish. El Hindi credits his recent success to working on his fitness with British squash legend Jonah Barrington in England. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 8 in November 2008.
Read more about this topic: Wael El Hindi
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