Asal Cruises Past Eleinen To Reach El Gouna International Semi-Finals

Egypt’s Mostafa Asal dispatched compatriot Aly Abou Eleinen in a swift last quarter-final of the El Gouna International Squash Open.

In their only meeting on the PSA Tour, Asal claimed victory over his fellow Egyptian in the Best-Of-Three format of the 2024 London Classic second round.

The No.4 seed showed no sign of relenting as he proved his quality against compatriot Eleinen, who reached the quarter-finals through upset wins over World No.9 Marwan ElShorbagy and World No.6 Mazen Hesham.

The ‘Raging Bull’ looked unflappable as his shots found their targets and he stormed to a two-game lead with dominant 11-2, 11-4 wins, Eleinen struggling to prevent the World No.4 from controlling the rallies.

Asal continued the onslaught into the third game where he earned nine match balls. Eleinen had a late resurgence, saving four match balls, but the damage was already done as Asal claimed an 11-5 third-game win and booked his place in the semi-final within 39 minutes.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Asal after the match. “I’m happy with my squash, happy with my performance as well. Lots of difficulties, couldn’t find my game. I’d been trying to find the balance between the aggression and being calm on court, not panicking or trying to win at any cost. Trying to play good squash, this is the result I’ve been aiming for for a while.

“I’m happy with the performance, Aly is a very tough opponent. I’ve known how dangerous he is since I was very young. It was always 3-2s in the under 15s and he was beating all the juniors. We were all lucky that he went to college, but he came back with lots of dangers.

“I’m happy for him, he’s had some great upsets and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

“Paul [Coll] is a very tough opponent. In Egypt it’s a bit different, playing here with the crowd and support behind me helps.

“But Gawad, when you see how he played today, I’m scared of Gawad and how he performed. It’s going to be a really enjoyable match and I’m super happy to be playing him once again.”

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Result:
[4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-5 (39m)