Mostafa Asal Becomes World No.1 in Controversial Circumstances

21-year-old Egyptian Mostafa Asal is guaranteed to become the World No.1 in the next PSA World Rankings after overcoming compatriot Marwan ElShorbagy in controversial style in the semi-finals of the PSA World Tour Gold Houston Open.

With so much on the line for Asal, the tension was heightened between the two Egyptians from the opening exchanges in the first game. Both players started off with attritional rallies with the middle of the court seeing a lot of action and traffic. The world No.2 was ahead for most of the game with refereeing decisions deciding the majority of the points. Asal managed to close out the game 11-7, winning seven of those points on stroke decisions.

The second game followed a similar pattern with both players trying to hold their ground in the middle of the court and looking to find space to test each other's movement. The score reached 8-8 in the crucial game and it was the younger Egyptian who played the big points better and let out a might roar after ElShorbagy failed to retrieve his drop shot.

The street-wise ElShorbagy responded in the third game and started to use different angles to break up Asal's rhythm and string points together to breathe more life in the contest. Unfortunately, however, at 10-4 game ball to ElShorbagy, there was contact between the two players in the middle of the court which sent ElShorbagy to the ground, with loud screams of pain coming from the world No.6.

ElShorbagy was helped off court and after being given time to treat his injury, he was subsequently unable to return to court and the match was awarded to Asal. That win for the top seed not only ensured his place in the final, but also that he will become the youngest world No.1 since the great Jansher Khan in 1988 in the next PSA World Rankings on Monday.

Asal will face the older ElShorbagy brother and former world No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy for the title after 'The Beast' needed four games to defeat crowd favourite Mazen Hesham.

In similar style to his first two matches in the tournament, ElShorbagy came out of the traps firing in the opening game. Volleying the ball at every opportunity and trying to make the match as hard as possible, physically, for the well-supported Mazen Hesham. ElShorbagy led 8-4, but the skills of Hesham can never be ignored. He rattled off several winners to run through and steal the first game 11-9.

The second game was tight throughout with both players unable to pull away from each other on the scoreboard. The quality of the squash was of the highest quality as ElShorbagy was looking to work the ball deep to set up his attacking opportunity, whereas Hesham was firing the ball short left, right and centre. 'The Falcon' saved a game ball at 10-9 but was unable to carry any momentum into the tiebreak as 'The Beast' levelled, winning 12-10.

The physicality of the opening two games were certainly taking its toll on both players in the third and fourth games, but more so for No.4 seed. Hesham was still able to produce outrageous winners but the pressure from ElShorbagy was relentless. The Englishman kept his focus to take the games 11-7, 11-8 and reach yet another PSA World Tour final.

"You can never write me off, never ever, you can never write 'The Beast' off," said ElShorbagy.

"I was 9-6 up in the first and I had no right to lose that game, but it's what you do and how you come back after losing a tough first game like that. When I was 6-1 down I had a walk to the towel and told myself to breathe, think, everything is happening too fast, calm down, see what's going on, where is he getting winners from and try to find a way back.

"I just fought. I was 1-0 & 6-1 down in a semi, it's not easy to come back, especially against someone like Mazen, who can get quick winners. As I said you can never write me off, I came back and won and I'm in another final this season and I can't wait to be there tomorrow.

"A lot of people said last season that I was done, I was gone, there is no way back for 'the Beast'. I don't know where those people are anymore. It's very easy to sit behind a keyboard and just comment here and there when you have no idea how it is at the top.

"People said when I moved to England Squash that they were getting an old man, but I promised that I would go back to world No.1 and I'm on my way there and I want to get there, nothing is going to stop me."