Elias Ends Asal Winning Run To Join History-Maker Zakaria in El Gouna Final

World No.3 Diego Elias produced a sensational display to battle back from 6-1 down in the fifth game and bring world No.1 Mostafa Asal's 27-match winning run to an end on a thrilling semi-finals night at the El Gouna International Open 2026 in Egypt.

Elias will be joined in the final of the Platinum-level event by 18-year-old Mohamad Zakaria, who becomes the youngest men's major finalist of the 21st century after defeating Youssef Ibrahim at the stunning El Gouna Conference and Culture Center.

A week on from his five-game defeat to Asal in the final of the Optasia Championships, 2024 World Champion Elias reversed that scoreline with a sublime 11-6, 2-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8 victory.

The high-quality match saw Elias come from 2/1 down to force a deciding game, and later recover from a dead leg early in the fifth, to reel in a five-point deficit and sit at 8-7 down in the fifth game.

A pivotal rally followed in which top seed Asal was penalised for a stroke and an additional conduct stroke for an accumulation of movement offences, which suddenly saw Elias sit 9-8 up, a position which he then converted to the win after 93 minutes of incredible play.

"I'm very happy to be in my first final in El Gouna," Elias said after the match. "I got a dead leg in the fifth, but it was just for a few rallies, then it started feeling better. I was moving well today and I'm just happy that I could fight back and win the match.

"I'm just really glad I could beat Mostafa, he's been playing some great squash. He won so many matches in a row and I knew that he could be tired today."

Two-time World Junior Champion Zakaria, meanwhile, became the first male teenager since Ramy Ashour at the 2006 Hong Kong Open to reach a major final after claiming his third successive seeding upset in the Platinum-level event.

Zakaria backed up his statement victories over No.5 seed Joel Makin and No.3 seed Karim Gawad with a mature 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7 victory over world No.7 Ibrahim to continue his career-best run by the Red Sea.

"I can't put it into words, I'm so happy," Zakaria said after the match. "I knew I worked hard and I know I believe it - the crowd here are amazing and they gave me a big push.

"I'm going to have a really hard one with Diego and I hope I can win the tournament for Egypt."

Meanwhile, in the women's event, top seed Hania El Hammamy and No.2 seed Nour ElSherbini set up a straight shootout for the world No.1 ranking position in Friday's final.

Current world No.1 El Hammamy continued her quest for a second El Gouna International title after dispatching world No.3 Orfi with a near-faultless straight games performance.

The 2022 El Gouna champion advanced to her sixth major final of the season after overcoming the 18-year-old by an 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 scoreline.

"I'm really happy. I just wanted to come here and show her why I was world No.1 and the levels she has to produce to be at the top of the tree," El Hammamy said after the match.

"She's very eager to come to the top, but she will have to earn the win against me.

"I've worked on some things on court, and I knew that if I produced those things, I could come on court and win the match comfortably."

World No.2 and former champion ElSherbini, meanwhile, advanced to her third El Gouna final after her opponent, world No.4 Olivia Weaver, was forced to withdraw from their contest mid-way through the second game with an adductor injury.