SF: Diego in 93m and 5 games against Asal
[4] Diego Elias (PER) 3-2 [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) 11-6, 2-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8 (93m)
PSA report
World No.3 Diego Elias produced a sensational display to battle back from 6-1 down in the fifth game and bring Mostafa Asal’s 27-match winning run to an end in the semi-finals of the El Gouna International.
Elias advanced to his first final at the El Gouna International after coming from 2-1 down, and later overturning a five-point deficit in the deciding game to clinch a thrilling 11-6, 2-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8 victory after 93 minutes of play.
Elias picked up where he left off from his quarter-final win over Marwan ElShorbagy, moving the ball immaculately across the court and taking the pace off the ball smartly. The ‘Peruvian Puma’ moved through to take the opening game 11-6.
Top seed Asal bounced back in style after falling 1-0 behind, upping the pace and hitting a string of ferocious winners across the court. The current World Champion raced into a quick-fire start and dropped just two points as he levelled at 1-1.
A scrappy third game followed, which saw both players lose their final reviews and prove hard to split on the scoreboard. However, from 9-9 it was Asal who edged ahead, delighting the home crowd with a thumping forehand winner to move within a game of the final.
The two contrasting styles continued to produce some incredible squash, with Elias’s silky movement and Asal’s power game going head-to-head. However, in what seemed a flash, Elias managed to move from 4-4 to 10-4 as Asal’s accuracy began to fall off a cliff.
The pressure which Elias continually applied in the back left corner seemingly looked to be pushing Asal’s physicality to the extreme, but Asal snapped back into gear and remarkably saved four game balls to sit just 10-8 down. Elias, though, managed to hold off the resurgent ‘Raging Bull’ to send the match to a deserved deciding game.
Asal made a concerted push at the beginning of the fifth as the ball continued to soften up, while Elias also began to suffer from a dead leg following a collision with Asal in the middle of the court.
The home favourite raced into a 6-1 lead, but once again let the momentum switch back into Elias’ hands as the Peruvian bounced back to trail by just 7-8.
A pivotal rally followed in which Asal was penalised for a stroke and a conduct stroke for an accumulation of movement offences, which suddenly saw Elias sit 9-8 up and within two points of victory.
From there, the 2024 World Champion made no mistake of converting, moving through to the final of the El Gouna International after 93 minutes of play.
Diego : “I’m very happy to be in my first final in El Gouna. I got a dead leg in the fifth, but it was just for a few rallies, then it started feeling better. I was moving well today and I’m just happy that I could fight back and win the match.
“Mostafa congratulated me at the end, he’s always good at the end of matches.
“I’m just really glad I could beat Mostafa, he’s been playing some great squash. He won so many matches in a row and I knew that he could be tired.”
