Hesham and Elias Run Rampant to Reach Canadian Open Final

Diego Elias and Mazen Hesham will renew their rivalry in the final of the Canadian Men’s Open 2024 presented by AirSprint Private Aviation after convincing wins over Farkas Balazs and Youssef Soliman.

No.2 seed Hesham went into his match with Egyptian teammate and No.3 seed Soliman knowing he would need to find another level after struggling in his quarter-final with Yannick Wilhelmi.

Today, the 29-year-old delivered a vintage performance.

Hesham nullified Soliman’s gameplan of targeting the back of the court with dogged defensive work as well as a balance of careful rallying with the attacking flair that epitomises his game, with ‘the Falcon’ taking down Soliman 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 in 46 minutes.

“We’ve been playing each other for about 10 years. We’re friends today and we’ll be friends tomorrow. But for that half-hour  to an hour on court, we’re just trying to beat each other,” Hesham said afterwards.

Top seed Elias, meanwhile, was even more dominant in his semi-final against tournament surprise package Farkas.

The unseeded Hungarian had caused shockwaves earlier in the tournament with wins over No.4 seed Abdulla Al Tamimi and No.7 seed Dimitri Steinmann, but today had no answer to the rampant former World No.1, who frequently punished Farkas’ conservative court positioning as he romped to a 27-minute 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 win.

Afterwards, Elias said: “I’m playing great squash, all the players I’ve played are very good and a few have been playing their best squash this week. I just wanted to show them that there are a few more levels and I hope they can keep improving.”

The final takes place in Calgary tomorrow, 07 March, at 18:15 (GMT-7), with play streamed live on SQUASHTV.

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Results – Quarter-Finals: Canadian Men’s Open 2024 Presented by AirSprint Private Aviation

[1] Diego Elias (PER) bt Farkas Balazs (HUN) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 (27m)

[2] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt [3] Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (46m)

Draw –Final

[1] Diego Elias (PER) v [2] Mazen Hesham (EGY)