PSA writes: When Eleinen ousted Asal at the US Open

Aly Abou Eleinen v Mostafa Asal

Unseeded Aly Abou Eleinen delivered a career-best performance at the U.S. Open Championships this year, reaching the semi-finals of a Platinum-level event for the first time.

This run included a huge upset against World No.2 Mostafa Asal – who had previously won both the CIB Egyptian Open and the Paris Squash titles early in the 24/24 season – by an 11-7, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9 scoreline.

Coming into the match, then World No.13 Eleinen had defeated American No.1 Timothy Brownell and former World Champion Tarek Momen, and he continued this sensational form to stun those in attendance within the Arlen Specter US Squash Center and set up a last-four clash with World Champion Diego Elias.

The 24-year-old, a former University of Pennsylvania alumni, started the match in a confident fashion, moving impeccably on the all-glass court and winning the length battle down both side walls on his way to a one-game lead.

Despite Asal stealing the momentum of the match after claiming a tense second-game tie-break, Eleinen regathered himself impressively, continuing to get his tactics spot on by twisting the big frame of Asal into the back two corners before playing in short with deadly accuracy. Asal, who was erratic in his hitting throughout the 72-minute encounter, squandered a 7-4 lead in the third to fall 2-1 down, before Eleinen pounced again from 6-1 down in the fourth.

Despite the magnitude of the occasion, there were few nerves in the arm of Eleinen, with the 24-year-old sealing the momentous victory from 9-8 down with a trio of scintillating winners into the front left corner of the court.

This match was the first time since October 2023 that Asal had lost to a player outside of the top ten in the world rankings.

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