Mostafa Asal - Bio
At the age of just 22, Mostafa Asal has already made himself a reputation for one of the hardest players to beat on 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 broke onto the scene in 2018, with his first PSA Tour event being the El Gouna International in his home country. He then took part in four events on the Tour de las Americas.
Asal won three of those, winning the Mar del Plata Open, Regatas Resistencia Open and the Paineiras Open Brasil. He also reached the final of the Aspin Kemp & Associates Aspin Cup. The Egyptian took his fourth win on the PSA World Tour at the CAS International Squash Championships in Pakistan in 2019, beating compatriot Youssef Soliman in the final.
Despite being just 19 years of age, Asal continued to make it through to at least the second round of every major tournament, including several third round appearances. He made his first major quarter-final at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in January 2020, before going one stage better in his first appearance of the 2020-2021 season.
Asal reached the semi-finals of the CIB Egyptian Open, and with it, jumped inside the top 16 in the World Rankings for the first time in his fledgling career. He also made it through to the last four of the final 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 very top of the sport, as he claimed victory at the season-ending CIB PSA World Tour Finals, where only the best of the best compete. That was followed by his first major title, as he came from behind to defeat Tarek Momen in the final of the U.S. Open presented by Truist. Those results, along with several other semi-final appearances, saw him break into 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 featured at during the latter half of the 2021-2022 season. The Egyptian made the last four at the Houston Open, Allam British Open and the CIB PSA World Championships, along with making the final of the GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic in London.
Asal would go on to claim another two major titles, winning the El Gouna International and the CIB PSA World Tour Finals on home soil in Egypt, downing New Zealand’s Paul Coll in both finals. Thanks to those results, he moved inside the world’s top three for the first time in his fledgling career.
He started the 2022-2023 campaign with semi-final appearances at the QTerminals Qatar Classic and the CIB Egyptian Open, before then winning the Grasshopper Cup in Zurich. Asal also claimed the Everbright Securities International Hong Kong Squash Open, and moved into the world’s top two for the first time in the final week of 2022.
The Egyptian's rise continued into 2023, as he claimed the title at the Houston Open, the Tour's first televised event of the year. Thanks to the victory, Asal moved to the summit of the World Rankings for the first time, becoming the third-youngest man to reach the top, behind only Jansher and Jahangir Khan.
Asal could only manage the last 16 at both the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions and the Black Ball Squash Open. After serving a six-week suspension, and having lost his World No.1 spot, the Egyptian returned to make the semis of the PSA World Championships and he then finished runner-up at the El Gouna International.
