Diego Elias has become the first South American to win the CIB PSA World Championships after downing Mostafa Asal in straight games.
Elias ousted the reigning champion Ali Farag in the semi finals to reach the final against Asal, creating history in the process as he earns his first World crown.
‘The Peruvian Puma’ becomes the first non-Egyptian player to win the PSA World Championships since Gregory Gaultier defeated Omar Mosaad in 2015.
Asal came out on top the last time the pair went head-to-head, which came at the Windy City Open in February, and the ‘Raging Bull’ was 5-3 ahead in the opening game, but Elias responded magnificently by taking eight of the next nine points to take the first 11-6.
World No.3 Asal was going short in the second as he tried to draw level, but Elias was equal to everything that was being thrown at him as he went two games up.
Asal, who held off a fightback from Paul Coll yesterday to advance to the final, and he looked to have got himself back into the contest when he had game ball, only to be saved superbly by Elias with some excellent retrievals.
In the tiebreak, Elias clinched the match as Asal found the tin, with the Peruvian etching his name into the history books. https://twitter.com/PSAWorldTour/status/1791923387465429482
“I just can’t believe it. It’s been a dream week since the start and I’m super happy having my whole team here and all the people who are supporting me back home,” he said afterwards.
“All the people who have been helping me with my squash and Jonathon [Power] was here at the start of the week. Also having Greg [Gaultier] has been a massive help for me the last few years – all of them made a big difference in my game and I can’t thank them enough. I also want to thank all my sponsors that support me all these years. I just can’t believe it. https://twitter.com/PSAWorldTour/status/1791927076599042185
“It’s going to huge, it’s going to be massive in Peru for all the people supporting me all these years. To be honest I don’t know how I feel right now, I haven’t processed it yet and I’m just very happy.”
Result [3] Diego Elias (PER) bt [4] Mostafa Asal (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 (61m)
