Charlottesville Open SFs: Wall Outlasts Elsirty as Asim Khan’s Dream Week Continues

Defending champion Nick Wall held off a strong fightback from Moustafa Elsirty to reach the Charlottesville Open final, where he will face the unseeded Muhammad Asim Khan. 

Wall, who lifted the trophy here 12 months ago, is the No.1 seed, but knew he would be tested against the 22-year-old Egyptian, who had saved two match balls en route to a stunning comeback win over Ibrahim Elkabbani in the quarter-finals. 

Unsurprisingly, there was little to split them early on, with the score never more than two points apart until Wall brought up three game balls at 10-7. 

Elsirty saved the first two but Wall would take the third, slamming a forehand serve return down the line out of Elsirty’s reach, with his calls for a let going unheard.

Game two was then over before it had barely begun, with Wall racing to an 11-2 win in just over five minutes, Elsirty perhaps feeling the effects of his 101-minute marathon 24 hours ago. 

But anyone who has seen the Egyptian play – particularly of late – will know that he arguably plays best with his back against the wall, and he came out with intent in game three, quickly establishing a 5-2 lead. 

Wall fought back to level at 9-9 but Elsirty closed out the game, the fifth stroke of the game handing him the point he needed at 10-9 up. 

The match continued to be physical into the fourth, with another four stroke decisions playing their part in the score getting to 10-9 once again, with another game ball Elsirty’s way. 

This time, though, he needed no decision from the referee, slamming a vicious forehand winner into the nick to send the match into a decider. 

But Wall found his length again in game five, stretching both his opponent and the lead, moving swiftly from 6-2 to 10-3, bringing up seven match balls. 

He only needed one, with Elsirty attempting an audacious ‘tweener off the ball wall from the serve return, only finding the tin. 

The players shared a warm embrace on court at the end, and speaking after the match, Wall was under no illusions as to the challenge he had faced. 

“I knew it was going to be a tough one going into it,” he said. 

“He’s a physical player and his ball striking is very powerful, so you’ve got to be careful not to leave the ball around the middle against him and you’ve got to make him go into the corners. 

“When I got that right I felt like I was on top of the rally and I was able to make him do the work, but then on the flip side, when I lost that length, he’s so dangerous when you leave it half-court. 

“So it was a mental challenge to try and find that length consistently and then do something with the ball when I created an opportunity. 

“With Moustafa, he’s not a player who will ever give up. At 2-0 up I was actually very aware that he was going to come harder in that third game than at any point in the match, which is what he did. 

“And perhaps I slightly got the tactics wrong in the third and fourth but I’m happy to bounce back in the fifth and get the job done either way.” 

Wall will now face unseeded Pakistani player Muhammad Asim Khan for the title, after the 27-year-old continued his fairytale week with a 3-0 win over a struggling Cesar Salazar. 

Asim Khan had needed to fight back from two games down to even reach round two of this event, but will now compete in his first world events final after a dominant display in the second semi-final. 

The Pakistani No.1 set the tone early on with a comfortable win in game one, in which he lost only five points and controlled the T throughout, moving his more experienced opponent around the court well.

The highlight of that game was a delightful forehand drop to end a 46-shot rally, which was appreciated by the crowd at Boar’s Head Resort, but they were made to wait for the start of game two, as Salazar took an injury break. 

The break was only three minutes and did little to disrupt Asim Khan’s flow, as he continued to control the rallies on his way to another 11-5 success in game two. 

The experienced Mexican was visibly struggling as game three got underway, but continued to chase down what he could, determined not to give in without a fight. 

Asim Khan, meanwhile, remained focused on the task at hand and continued his march towards the final, wrapping up victory in little more than half an hour with a forehand drop. 

He will now look to dethrone last year’s champion in tomorrow’s final, which gets underway at 6pm local time (11pm BST). 

The match will stream live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel. 

Results: Charlottesville Open Men’s Semi-Finals 

[1] Nick Wall (ENG) bt Moustafa Elsirty (EGY) 3-2: 11-9, 11-2, 9-11, 9-11, 11-3 (63m) 
Muhammad Asim Khan (PAK) bt [5] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 (35m)