Ahmed Aly Elsayed has won a record sixth United States National Snooker Championship title, after he overpowered Ajeya Prabhakar in the 2021 final with a comprehensive 5-0 defeat at the New York Athletic Club (NYAC).

With the cancellation of last year's Championship due to the coronavirus outbreak, Aly had to wait an extra year before he could attempt to own the record of most number of titles outright having previously held that acclaim jointly with the late great Tom Kollins.

The number one seed from Brooklyn had been relatively untroubled throughout this Championship going into the final, and had only lost three frames in the six matches that he had played.

Aly's confidence would have been high given that he had defeated Prabhakar in two previous Championship finals, and had won five of their six Championship meetings since 2009.

The Californian was playing in his seventh Championship final, though he has only prevailed on two occasions. He admittedly had not been able to practice much in recent months, so although he won a very tight semifinal 4-3 against Keith Zhen, he would have been pleased with his performances that helped him reach another final.

The first frame was quite evenly balanced but an error by Prabhakar let Aly in for a 57 break clearance and he took a 1-0 advantage.

From that moment on in the match, the number three seed just could not take his chances and offered Aly too many opportunities to put any kind pressure on his game.

In frame two when it looks like Prabhakar has finally regained his stroke, while on a run of 20 he unexpectedly missed the blue and allowed a counter attack from Aly which got him right back in the frame. Later in the frame Prabhakar called a foul on himself which resulted in a free-ball, and Aly went onto seal the frame for a 2-0 lead.

In the third frame, a mistake by Prabhakar on an attempted safety shot left Aly right in amongst the red balls, and he proceeded to pocket a break of 45. Prabhakar had further chances but just could not capitalize on them, and a further contribution of a 25-point run by Aly secured the frame and went 3-0 ahead.

At the start of frame four, as an audience member spilt their drink, Aly went in-off into a pocket with the cue-ball while on a break of 16. Though Prabhakar's attempt at a safety shot left Aly a long red of which he pocketed, though he eventually went onto snooker himself behind the blue. From the resulting foul-and-a-miss, Prabhakar decided to play from there only to miss the attempted pot.

Aly made a run of 19, but then the frame became very scrappy with the remaining balls scattered all over the table. With the play fragmented in the frame from that moment on, Prabhakar was not able to add any significant contributions, which enabled Aly to go onto win the frame and take 4-0 advantage into the mid-session interval.

Prabhakar now had a mountain to climb and his prime motivation for the rest of the final must have been to avoid the dreaded whitewash. With the reds spread open in the fifth frame, both players made early errors and small contributions to their points tally.

A safety shot by Prabhakar gave Aly an opportunity for a thin cut on a red of which he potted to leave himself on the blue, and from this position he compiled a break of 76 just missing the final black ball to wrap up a crushing victory in style.

Aly was naturally delighted with winning his record sixth Championship title.

"It was an amazing tournament," he said. "I really can't believe I won it again and made history, especially in my second home at New York Athletic Club.

"My game was improving every stage of the tournament. From the quarterfinals, I started putting up different gear. I played a great semifinal with Ray and an amazing final with Ajeya."

Aly, who is the Billiard Room manager at the NYAC, added: "It really meant the whole world to win it in front of my wife, and my family at NYAC. I’m very proud to be part of this great club — the home of champions.

"I can't thank them all enough for all the support they gave me before and during the tournament, from our president Regina Conroy-Keller, to VP John Duggen, to past President Dominic Bruzzese, to our board, and to our Billiards Chairman, Joe Pash, who kept saying it to me that I'll win this one to make the record.

"I want to thank Daniel Perez and the Athletic Department, for everything they did to help run a successful tournament.

"Also, a big thank to Terry Dunne, John Case and the rest of the KGT members for all their support."

Alan Morris, the Executive Director of the United States Snooker Association (USSA), said: "I would like to congratulate Ahmed on yet another fine Championship performance in lifting his record sixth title.

"It was fantastic to see so many new faces in the Championship, and great young talent who I hope will become the top players of the future.

"My gratitude goes out to the NYAC for once again hosting a truly special Championship, and also to the players who come from all across the United States and really make this great event the success it continues to be. We look forward to doing this all again next year!"

The final result and frame scores:

Final (Best-of-9 frames)
Match ID
F	Ahmed Aly Elsayed (New York) 1	5 - 0	Ajeya Prabhakar (California) 3
	Frame scores and 30+ breaks in brackets (Aly's score stated first): 1st. 94(57)-38   2nd. 75-38   3rd. 70(45)-25   4th. 75-31   5th. 89(76)-29

Aly and Prabhakar have now gained automatic selection to represent the United States in the coming year's international snooker competitions. Should any of the players be unavailable the USSA will have discretion on who it selects subject to performances, in addition to any further available entries into Championships.