CIRQUE D'HIVER BOUGLIONE - 15 AU 21 SEPTEMBRE 2024
MOSTAFA ASAL
Titles
• Open Niort Green Venice (2018),
• Carter Classic (2019),
• Crawford Fund Management Open (2019)
• European Team Champion (FRA - 2018)
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Biography
At just 21 years old, Mostafa Asal has already earned a reputation as one of the toughest players to beat on the tour. He already has a handful of major titles to his name and became world No. 1 for the first time in 2023.
The Egyptian burst onto the scene in 2018, his first PSA Tour event being the El Gouna International in his home country. He then participated in four events of the Tour de las Americas.
Asal has won three, winning the Mar del Plata Open, Regatas Resistencia Open and Paineiras Open Brasil. He also reached the final of the Aspin Kemp & Associates Aspin Cup. The Egyptian claimed his fourth PSA World Tour victory at the CAS International Squash Championships in Pakistan in 2019, beating compatriot Youssef Soliman in the final.
Despite being only 19, Asal went on to qualify for at least the second round of every major tournament, including several third-round appearances. He made his first major quarter-final at the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions in January 2020, before going one better in his first appearance of the 2020-21 season.
Asal reached the semi-finals of the CIB Egyptian Open and with it jumped into the top 16 of the world rankings for the first time in his fledgling career. He also qualified for the last four of the last event of 2020, the CIB Black Ball Squash Open.
After reaching the last eight of the El Gouna International, Asal made his presence known at the top of the sport, claiming victory at the season finale of the CIB PSA World Tour, where only the best of the best compete . This was followed by his first major title, as he came from behind to defeat Tarek Momen in the US Open final presented by Truist. These results, along with several other semi-final appearances, saw him enter the top five of the world rankings for the first time.
Asal's consistency continued into the new year, as he made at least the semi-finals of all six events he entered in the second half of the 2021-22 season. The Egyptian has made the last four at the Houston Open, Allam British Open and CIB PSA World Championships, as well as the GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic final in London.
Asal would claim two more major titles, winning the El Gouna International and CIB PSA World Tour finals on home soil in Egypt, beating New Zealander Paul Coll in both finals. Thanks to these results, he entered the world top three for the first time in his young career.
He started the 2022-23 campaign with semi-final appearances at the QTerminals Qatar Classic and the CIB Egyptian Open, before winning the Grasshopper Cup in Zurich. Asal also won the Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open and entered the world top two for the first time in the last week of 2022.
The Egyptian's rise continued in 2023, as he won the title at the Houston Open, the Tour's first televised event of the year. With the win, Asal topped the world rankings for the first time, becoming the third youngest man to reach the top, behind only Jansher and Jahangir Khan.