Penn graduate Aly Abou Eleinen recorded the biggest result of his career thus far in the Comcast Business U.S. Open Squash Championships quarterfinals, upsetting world No. 2 and 2021 champion Mostafa Asal to reach his first PSA Platinum semifinal Thursday, October 24, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.
Twenty-four-year-old Eleinen has been in the best form of his career in recent weeks, which has now culminated in his first career win over the mercurial Asal or a world No. 2-ranked player.
Eleinen started the match in confidently, moving impeccably on the H. Chase Lenfest all-glass court and winning the length battle down both side walls on his way to a one-game lead. Despite Asal stealing the momentum of the match after claiming a tense second-game tie-break, Eleinen regained his composure to shoot his way back from 4-7 down in the third and earn a 2-1 advantage. Towards the end of a close fourth game, Eleinen rattled off three straight winners from 8-9 down to seal the momentous result.
“I’m super proud of myself,” Eleinen said after the match. “I had an opportunity in the fourth and I took it. I’m just overwhelmed with joy right now. I’ve been working so hard this season. I’ve been on the other side of these results so many times against these top guys. Today, it was actually really tough when I was ahead – I didn’t want to start doubting myself. Last season, when I had those opportunities, I didn’t really go for them, and I told myself this season that I would back myself up and go for it. I’ve just got to recover now and keep it going in the semifinals.”
Eleinen will face reigning world champion Diego Elias in the semifinals after the Peruvian eliminated three-time champion and eight seed Mohamed ElShorbagy in straight games.
The second women’s semifinal tomorrow night will feature a rematch of the 2021 finals between world No. 2 Nouran Gohar and world No. 3 Hania El Hammamy.
Current World Champion Gohar, who is wearing a protective strap after breaking her nose at the Qatar Classic two weeks ago, stretched her winning run over World No. 5 Nele Coll to 12 matches following a dominant three-game victory.
The three-time U.S. Open champion had only ever dropped one game against the Belgian coming into the encounter, and she looked in control of the match from the first point to the last, securing an 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 victory after just thirty-two minutes on court.
“I tried to play with the big mask on, but it was really hard to do that, so this was the best thing we could come up with,” Gohar said of the smaller protective gear after wearing a full face mask in Qatar. “Playing without it would be ideal, but I can’t do that. It’s all about adapting to certain situations, things happen, so it’s all about finding ways to work around them.”
Friday night will feature four semifinals with match play starting at 6pm ET. Limited tickets are available on usopensquash.com/tickets. Watch live coverage on squash.tv.