Paris Squash SF: Asal Delivers Late-Night Comeback To Defeat Coll In Five 

World No.2 Mostafa Asal battled back from 2-0 down to defeat World No.3 Paul Coll in a thrilling end to semi-finals night at Paris Squash 2024. 

‘The Raging Bull’, who defeated Ali Farag to win the season-opening CIB Egyptian Open title, set up another meeting with the World No.1 after defeating Coll by a 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 scoreline. 

In a match of two halves, it was Coll who came out the sharper of the two players, hitting aggressively and feeding on the loose balls which Asal presented to him. ‘The Raging Bull’ was a little chaotic in his attacks during the opening two games, opening up the court too often and too early in rallies. 

After Coll took the opening two games by 11-9 and 11-6 scoreline, there was a definitive change in approach from Asal, with the Egyptian becoming more patient in his construction of rallies. 

This new approach, added with the increasingly stop-start nature of the match, which took all momentum out of Coll’s play, saw the Egyptian draw parity and force a deciding game after just under an hour of play. 

At 6-3 down in the fifth game, Coll collided with Asal on his way to retrieving a shot on the forehand wing, and along with the no-let decision against him, was handed a conduct stroke for dissent.

From 8-3 up, Asal made no mistake of converting the victory, closing out the match after 83 minutes of play.

After the match, the World No.2 said: “I’ve been struggling with a really bad bruise lately, but I’m getting there and I’m fighting with myself to perform.

“The push was all credit to Jimbo [James Willstrop]. After the second game, I was struggling with my leg and the bruise.

“I guess we have both struggled today. I love Ali though, both on and off the court. He’s a legend of our sport and all credit to him. Hopefully it will be an amazing final tomorrow, like it was at the British Open. It’s a pleasure for me to be playing against him tomorrow.”

Result:

[3] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [2] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-2: 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5