Asal Outlasts Farag In Epic To Win First British Open Title

World No.4 Mostafa Asal has won his first British Open title after holding off defending champion Ali Farag in an epic five-game clash at The Birmingham Rep Theatre. 

Asal, 23, produced one of the performances of his career to capture his third title of the 2023/24 PSA World Tour season, overturning a championship ball in the deciding game to eventually win by an 11-5, 2-11, 13-11, 4-11, 12-10 scoreline after 79 minutes of thrilling action. 

The differing game plans of both players were stark in the early stages of the match, with Farag trying to elongate the rallies and put some work into the legs of Asal, with the latter looking for winners whenever given the briefest window of opportunity. It was Asal whose quality proved too hot to handle though, with ‘The Raging Bull’ stunning the packed house in Birmingham by charging through the first game by an 11-5 scoreline. 

Top seed Farag reacted as champions do in the second, nailing his lines and racing into a substantial early lead. From the mid-point of the game on, instead of engaging in a physical battle with Farag, Asal decided to conserve his energy and go for broke, missing a number of attempted winners, and losing a one-sided second game in just six minutes. 

Farag and Asal couldn’t be separated in the 25-minute third game that followed, with the level of squash moving up to a whole new level. The pair traded blows back and forth, with Asal moving two game balls up at 10-8, but Farag fighting back to force a tie-break. However, Farag couldn’t save a third game ball, with the top seed clipping a backhand volley from the middle of the court into the tin to fall 2-1 behind to the 23-year-old. 

As was the case earlier in the match, Farag once again fought back into the encounter, showing some incredible defensive work to negate the power of his Egyptian compatriot. Despite the stop-start nature of the fourth game, which included a number of traffic issues in the middle of the court, Farag kept a cool head to force a deciding game. 

Yet more momentum swings continued in what proved to be an epic fifth game, with Asal moving into a 6-2 advantage, but Farag taking five straight points to retake the lead. The top seed looked to be on the cusp of victory at 10-9 up, but Asal found a perfect dying length to force a tie-break. ‘The Raging Bull’ won the following point to move championship ball up, and at the first time of asking, sealed victory when a no-let decision was awarded in his favour. 

After the match, Asal said: “It’s unbelievable. I’m almost running out of words, I’m almost crying! To win against Paul [Coll] and Ali [Farag] it’s amazing. I was 6-2 up in the final game and then the emotions came in of winning the match and Ali came back to 9-7, and it was almost going the other side. But what a relief. 

“At the beginning of the season I had no structure until I went to Pontefract to work with James [Willstrop]. To play the squash that I’m winning at the moment is all credit to them.”

Result:

[4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [1] Ali Farag (EGY) 3-2: 11-5, 2-11, 13-11, 4-11, 12-10 (79m)