F: Intense battle but Asal prevail against Gawad…

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[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [3] Karim Gawad (EGY) 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (73m)

World No.1 Mostafa Asal claimed his fourth straight title on the PSA Squash Tour following a hard-fought four-game victory over Karim Abdel Gawad at the Palm Hills Squash Open.

The Egyptian duo put on a spectacular showing for the packed house at Golf Central Mall, but it was recently crowned World Champion Asal who eventually came through by a 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 scoreline.

The margins were fine in a well-contested 23-minute opening game, with both players fighting for dominance in the middle of the court. Let’s and strokes were awarded to both players as they moved into a tense tie-break, but it was 33-year-old Gawad who came through it by a 12-10 scoreline.

At 5-2 up in the second game, Gawad looked well placed to double his advantage in the match, with ‘The Baby-Faced Assassin’ rolling back the years with some sublime shotmaking into the front of the court.

However, Asal hung tough in this tough period of the match, displaying terrific defensive abilities to firstly draw level and then storm through to take the second game with nine consecutive points.

The third game saw the level of squash rise even higher, with both Gawad and Asal continuing to trade attacks into the front with regularity. It was Asal, though, who managed to move two game balls up and hang on to claim the 19-minute third game by an 11-9 scoreline.

After the narrow third-game victory, Asal began to grow in the ascendancy in the fourth, keeping Gawad behind him on the court with some superb width hitting. ‘The Raging Bull’ raced into a 9-4 lead over a tiring Gawad and closed out the match with a powerful backhand kill beyond the reach of his opponent.

After the match, Asal said: “Yeah, it’s very special for me to be honest, playing in front of my home crowd, playing in my club.

“[Karim] is an absolute legend, on and off court, he’s just an amazing guy, amazing personality, I want to thank him for everything he has done for me, since I was very, very young.

“I remember he was the first one, when my mother and father were asking every pro to come and play with Mostafa, since I was 10 or 11 years old. Karim was the first one, all credit for Karim, he is a legend for our sport, just yeah amazing amazing battle today”