Season Preview: Men’s Top Four Battles

We were treated to some incredible battles on the PSA World Tour last season, with few better than those between the top four ranked players on the men’s tour: Ali Farag, Paul Coll, Mostafa Asal, and Diego Elias.

Over the course of the 23/24 campaign, this quartet faced off on 31 different occasions – between them winning all 10 Platinum trophies on offer (including the World Championships and World Tour Finals) and filling every spot in these respective finals on the PSA World Tour.

What was notable among these 31 meetings was that all of Farag, Coll, Asal, and Elias scored victories against one another – hopefully teasing yet another hugely competitive season at the top of the men’s game.

Most notable among these rivalries was that between World No.1 Farag and World No.2 Coll. Throughout the season, the pair shared three wins a piece, with four of these going all the way to a deciding game. The five times that Farag and Coll met in the five-game format resulted in an average match time of 88m, with their title deciders in London, Hong Kong, and Philadelphia lasting a mammoth 92, 82, and 91 minutes, respectively.

This head-to-head rivalry used to be almost as one-sided as it gets, with Farag winning 13 of their 14 first meetings on the PSA Tour up to the latter stages of 2021. However, since then Coll has taken the honours in eight of the last 15.

And despite Farag sitting well clear of the rest in terms of World Ranking points and boasting a superior head-to-head record against both Asal and Elias as well, the Egyptian didn’t have it all his own way last year, losing out to ‘The Peruvian Puma’ in the World Championships final and 23-year-old Asal in the British Open final.

As the 2024/25 season draws ever closer, who will manage take the upper-hand in these rivalries? Will Elias take confidence from defeating Farag on the biggest of stages? Can Coll continue to go toe-to-toe against Farag?

Top Four Head-to-Head Records for 23-24 PSA World Tour Season

Ali Farag 

Vs Paul Coll – 3 wins, 3 losses

Vs Mostafa Asal – 4 wins, 2 losses 

Vs Diego Elias – 4 wins, 1 loss 

– –

Paul Coll 

Vs Ali Farag – 3 wins, 3 losses 

Vs Mostafa Asal – 3 wins, 3 losses 

Vs Diego Elias – 3 wins, 1 loss 

– –

Mostafa Asal 

Vs Ali Farag – 2 wins, 4 losses 

Vs Paul Coll – 3 wins, 3 losses 

Vs Diego Elias – 1 win, 3 losses 

– –

Diego Elias 

Vs Ali Farag – 1 win, 4 losses 

Vs Paul Coll – 1 win, 3 losses 

Vs Mostafa Asal – 3 wins, 1 loss 

– –

There are reasons for all four of the aforementioned players to feel confident ahead of the new campaign.

Coll enjoyed one of the most successful seasons of his career last year, winning five titles and nine of his 16 matches against Farag, Asal, and Elias. The New Zealand No.1 has the fitness and mental resilience to come through any match, no matter the length, with his incredible athleticism evident in the finals of the US Open and Hong Kong Open Platinum events last term, both of which he came out on top in. In particular though, his victory against Farag at the Optasia Championships was the one to remember, with ‘Superman’ coming from two games behind, saving match ball along the way, to eventually win 11-9 in the fifth and take home the title.

Elias meanwhile, will be looking to replicate the superb string of squash that saw him become the first-ever South American World Champion in Cairo in May. That week, the 27-year-old was in inspired form as he defeated Karim Abdel Gawad in the last eight, Farag in the semi-finals, and Asal in the final on his way to the title. In the past, a major obstacle which Elias has struggled to overcome has been defeating Farag in big Platinum events. Apart from their 2023 US Open final – which Farag withdrew from with injury after two points – Elias had failed to win any of their 17 meetings which had come in a quarter-final or later. However, now with a World Championships title in his trophy cabinet, and crucially, a huge victory over Farag in his pocket, Elias will hope he can move from strength to strength next season and continue to re-write the record books.

After a year working under the tutelage of James Willstrop, World No.3 Asal will certainly feel he is well placed for another successful season on the PSA World Tour, especially when facing off against his top-four rivals. Last year, the 23-year-old only got better as the season progressed, reaching the finals of his last four events and claiming the prestigious British Open trophy. Asal has the attacking weapons to challenge any player in the world on his day, while his movement into the front two corners goes under the radar for a player of his build. If Asal can combine these two facets together on a regular basis, it could make for quite the prospect.

However, as has become custom in recent times, Farag will remain the man to beat. The 32-year-old has now been at World No.1 for over a year, captured a total of eight titles last season and recorded a staggering 90.9% win rate in this time. Farag’s unrelenting consistency has been something to behold in recent years, and it would take a brave person to bet against him having another season like last, this time around.

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