Crouin Stops Elnawasany To Claim Canadian Open Crown

Frenchman Victor Crouin claimed his 23rd PSA Squash Tour title with victory at the AirSprint Private Aviation Canadian Men's Open 2026, beating Yahya Elnawasany in three straight games on finals day in Calgary.

The world No.5 came into the tournament after claiming the biggest title of his career at the Texas Open, before crossing the border to Alberta in Canada where he was the No.2 seed.

A 2023 finalist and semi-finalist last year, Crouin had only dropped one game en-route to this year's final, looking determined to lift the trophy that had eluded him on two separate occasions.

Standing in his way was No.7 seed Yayha Elnawasany, the Egyptian who had been a giant killer throughout the tournament after eliminating both the world No.8 and No.1 seed Marwan ElShorbagy, as well as the No.3 seed Leonel Cardenas.

The 24-year-old had already played 234 minutes en-route to the final, and was looking to cause a major upset and overcome the world No.5 to lift the title.

However, the Frenchman wasn't looking to be another victim of the world No.25's giant-killings this week, as he was able to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the first game. Elnawasany would add some points to the scoreboard at 4-2, but Crouin's sharp accuracy proved to be causing the No.7 seed problems as he won the first 11-3.

The second game started the same way as the first, with Crouin taking a 4-2 lead, however, on this occasion, Elnawasany was able to bite back and level the scoring to 4-4. With the No.7 seed winning back-to-back points to tie the scoring, the Frenchman was able to prevent the Egyptian from gaining momentum in the contest, as he was able to withstand the pressure and win the next four points to lead 8-4.

Crouin's accuracy and sharp finishing continued to make life difficult for the 24-year-old as he was able to secure five-game balls before closing out the second game 11-6.

And with momentum in favour of the Frenchman, it seemed that the contest was only going to go one way, with the world No.5 showing his quality on court to take a healthy three-point advantage in the third.

A new ball was introduced at 3-0, but it didn't affect the No.2 seed, Crouin was able to pick up where he left off, as he continued to build a 10-point gap, winning 11-1 in the third to claim his first Canadian Men's Open title.

"I'm feeling great," Crouin said afterwards. "I'm very happy to have won another title in the space of just two to three weeks.

"It's been a great few weeks in North America, and it's good to finish on a win."

He continued: "And that's why I came back to this tournament, I wanted to get that win, get the points and keep going up in the ranking."