Hisham Ashour

29-year-old Cairo-born Hisham Ashour has firmly established himself as one of the leading Egyptians on the PSA World Tour in June 2011 when he rose to a career-high world No13 ranking.

He first tasted PSA Tour title success at the Athens Open in October 2005, when he beat defending champion Ramy in the final, but it was in 2010 that Ashour senior began to make serious inroads into the sport’s elite. An unexpected final appearance in the Rocky Mountain Open in Canada led to a surprise last 16 appearance in the World Open in ...

29-year-old Cairo-born Hisham Ashour has firmly established himself as one of the leading Egyptians on the PSA World Tour in June 2011 when he rose to a career-high world No13 ranking.

He first tasted PSA Tour title success at the Athens Open in October 2005, when he beat defending champion Ramy in the final, but it was in 2010 that Ashour senior began to make serious inroads into the sport’s elite. An unexpected final appearance in the Rocky Mountain Open in Canada led to a surprise last 16 appearance in the World Open in Saudi Arabia, where he trounced higher-ranked Laurens Jan Anjema in straight games in the second round.

But the year’s best was yet to come: In the PSA Masters in New Delhi in December, Hisham celebrated his first semi-final appearance in a World Series event. Seeded 14, he again ousted Anjema, before upsetting fourth seed Thierry Lincou in the quarter-finals.

Ranked 29 on the eve of this event, Ashour leapt 11 places to make his top 20 debut in the first ranking of 2011.

And Ashour continued where he left off in the New Year: In a three-month Tour sequence in North America, he reached the finals against expectation at both the Comfort Inn Open and Bluenose Classic in Canada before making it third time lucky at the National Bank Financial Group Open in Montreal.

After despatching top seed Anjema in the semi-finals, third seed Ashour recorded his second victory in the year over illustrious Australian David Palmer, beating the No2 seed 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-6. The triumph marked Ashour’s tenth appearance in a Tour final – and the third, and biggest, title success of his career.

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