Asal Squeezes Past Makin To Make Canary Wharf Classic Semis

Egypt's world No.4 Mostafa Asal was forced to do things the hard way to book his place in the semi-finals of the GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic, following a 95-minute battle with Welshman Joel Makin at London's East Wintergarden.

Asal, who has been away from the Tour for two months following a suspension, stormed out of the blocks in the first game to gain an impressive advantage before Makin regrouped, but despite saving one game ball it was 20-year-old Asal who took the important lead in the best-of-three format.

World No.8 Makin continued to show his resilience in the second with the two players not giving each other an inch as it remained nip and tuck throughout before the Welshman was able to convert 13-11 to draw level.

The intense rallies continued in the decider as the hitting power of Asal didn't slow but neither did the movement or determination of Makin. The score remained close throughout, but it was the quality from the Egyptian that shone through in the end as he converted after a mammoth 95 minutes of action - almost certainly the longest-recorded best-of-three match.

"Everything hurts. Joel is unbelievable, to be back and to compete at that level is never easy," said Asal afterwards. "The guys are so powerful and strong, they compete in every tournament and you get the fitness level up. I have been training hard for two months, four or five hours a day, but you can't replicate match level.

"I'm happy to be back, only two matches until I get the trophy and I'm going to do it."

Asal will face Peru's Diego Elias in the semi-finals - which will revert to the traditional best-of-five format, along with the final - after he defeated Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller in an entertaining 11-5, 8-11, 11-9 battle to end the night's action.

Mueller proved himself to be a crowd favourite once again as he continued to play with confidence, hitting some stylish winners, but it was the accuracy of Elias that proved the difference as he booked his place in the next round.

"That was a great match," said Elias. "Nicci had been playing great, he hit some unbelievable shots after the first game and I was struggling a bit, the ball got colder and I'm just happy at the end I played better and could win this match.

"It's going to be a tough match [against Asal]. I just need to go back and do all of my recovery but I think it's going to be a good match, so I just want to be at my best."

The other semi-final will be contested by Egyptians Fares Dessouky and Mazen Hesham after they claimed respective wins over former World Champion Tarek Momen and France's Victor Crouin.

It was an electric start between both Dessouky and Momen with the world No.10 pulling ahead to convert a crucial first game. Third seed Momen responded well though and kept his focus to convert the second on the tie-break and draw level.

However, it was all about Dessouky in the third as he raced into the lead and never looked back with Momen struggling to recover as the 27-year-old booked his spot in the last four of the PSA World Tour Gold event.

"Best of five you're more relaxed," said Dessouky. "In the second game I was 10-7 up and I was so nervous and wanted to give it everything in the third and not start thinking about losing because I will lose for sure if I think like this so, I needed to stay in a positive mindset."

Meanwhile, Hesham was in blistering form to record a 20-minute victory over Crouin, the 'giant killer' who took out world No.1 Paul Coll in the previous round.

A nervous start from the 22-year-old Frenchman was capitalised on by Hesham who comfortably eased into the semi-finals for the first time at the event by an 11-3, 11-3 margin.

"Me and Fares have been sharing the courts around the world together for so long, and people compare our styles and I think we bring a lot to squash," said Hesham.

"We've been unlucky with injuries and it's great to see Fares playing well and we're both healthy, finally. It's going to be tough, we know each other pretty well and I hope tomorrow I bring my A-game and let's see what we can do tomorrow."