Houston Open Final: The Stats & How To Watch Live

It’s the final day of the Houston Open as Egypt’s World-No.1-in-waiting Mostafa Asal takes on former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy of England for the Gold-level title.

You can catch all the action live from the Houston Squash Club on SQUASHTV. You can also keep up with the live scores from the event here.

Houston Open – Final Order of Play:
(All times are local – GMT-6)

Although the match may not have ended the way he would have liked it, yesterday’s semi-final success against Marwan ElShorbagy represented the most significant win of Asal’s career to date, propelling the 21-year-old to the top of the PSA World Rankings for Monday 16 January.

His opponent today, Marwan’s brother Mohamed, will no doubt understand the emotions the young Egyptian is feeling ahead of this afternoon’s clash, with ElShorbagy – who spent 50 months as World No.1 between 2014 and 2021 – used to the pressures of being the game’s top player.

Asal, who has often described ElShorbagy as an idol of his, has a 2-1 losing record against ElShorbagy and saw a one-game lead evaporate in their last contest, a 3-1 victory for the England No.1 in the semi-finals of the 2022 QTerminals Qatar Classic.

Both men came through the early rounds in Houston unscathed.

ElShorbagy dispatched France’s Baptiste Masotti and Egypt’s Youssef Soliman without dropping a game, before coming from behind in a tough contest with No.4 seed Mazen Hesham in yesterday’s semi-final.

Asal, too, made a clean sweep of the first two matches, sending compatriot Moustafa El Sirty and French No.5 seed Victor Crouin home in straight games, before an injury to Marwan ElShorbagy cut the semi-final short with Asal 2-1 up.

Can ‘the Raging Bull’ crown going to World No.1 with a title? Or will ‘the Beast’ spoil the party?