F: Asal in 5 in a controversial match against Diego

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) 3-2 [3] Diego Elias (PER)  11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5 (93m)

World number one Mostafa Asal captured his fourth tournament title in a row as he overcame Diego Elias in a five-game encounter to conclude this year’s Championships.

Asal took the lead but when Elias levelled it was the first game Asal had dropped in over 30 matches and the scene was set for a thrilling conclusion.

Asal regained the lead and looked to have the title wrapped up at 10-7 in the fourth, but in a dramatic series of rallies with both players going to the floor several times, Elias hung on to force a decider.

There was to be no dramatic conclusion though as Asal took control early in the fifth to see the win out after 93 minutes.

Asal : “There was lots of things happening, I hope everyone was entertained today.

“To be honest, I’m very happy Diego is back. You can see how strong and physical and entertaining he is. He is one of the assets of the tour; it’s a nightmare to play against him but I’m glad he’s back.

We can have some problems sometimes but we will speak after this match so we can just focus on the squash. I know it can be frustrating with these issues but we need to be more flowing squash, otherwise we’ll go backwards.

“I’m really pleased with today’s match and the crowd were entertained and that I could win the Optasia title once again. I’m really happy to defend the title in front of Bassim and thank you all so much.”

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