[3] Diego Elias (Per) 3-1 [2] Paul Coll (Nzl) 4-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-3 (67m)
Fram thoughts: Rewind to the Worlds in Palm Hills last year. I’m watching Paul winning the first game against Youssef Ibrahim in the quarters. Paul is playing perfect squash, and I mean so perfect that when my friend Ashraf Hanafi comes at the end of the game from chatting on live Egyptian TV, I tell him”I don’t see how Paul could lose this match”. Three games later, Paul is out of the event. Complete break down.
Well today, same difference. Paul is playing perfect squash, and I mean perfect squash, taking the will to play off his mate… 11/4, 6/1… and suddenly two little wobbles. Match over.
Paul never really came back into the match. Diego, who didn’t seem that interested up to that point, started to get focused at 6/6. And kept forcing strokes, one after the other. The official scoring says 8 strokes awarded to the Peruvian. When was the last time that happened to Paul…
It’s not like Paul did anything particularly wrong. He didn’t play the wrong shot, he didn’t tin at will… He was just… not there mentally…
PSA Report
World No.3 Diego Elias set up a blockbuster Egyptian Open final with World No.1 Mostafa Asal after battling back from a game down to defeat Paul Coll in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The Peruvian, who arrived in Cairo on the back of a shock opening round exit to Timothy Brownell at the Qatar Classic, looked back to his best as he defeated World No.2 Coll by a 4-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-3 scoreline.
Coll picked up where he left off from his sublime quarter-final victory over Victor Crouin early on in the match, finding his targets into the back and moving the large frame of Elias around all four corners of the court.
The Kiwi was always ahead on the scoreboard and took the first game 11-4 after 12 minutes of play.
Coll continued to dominate the opening stages of the second game, but then a remarkable shift in momentum took place, with Elias winning 21 of the next 24 points to turn the match on its head and race into a 2-1 lead.
Throughout this period of the match, an ever-more relaxed Elias began to find the blend of silky movement and accurate stroke play which has made him one of the world’s best over the past few years. For Coll, errors down both wings gave him limited opportunities to assert himself and pull his way back into the contest.
Following the 11-8 and 11-2 second and third game wins for Elias, Coll looked to steady the ship in an attempt to stop the Elias momentum, elongating the rallies and trying to rediscover his length into the back of the court.
However, this tactic was in vain. 2024 World Champion Elias continued to move from strength to strength in the fourth game and sealed his spot in the final of the Diamond-level event after 68 minutes of play.
I went straight from Qatar to Argentina for the South American Games, I played 25 matches in one week. I think that helped me being on court three times a day, playing singles, doubles, teams. I think that helped a lot. I had a week to get my body right and then came here. 
