diff --git a/playwright/_impl/_connection.py b/playwright/_impl/_connection.py
index 57a9dcf6d..dd6e054aa 100644
--- a/playwright/_impl/_connection.py
+++ b/playwright/_impl/_connection.py
@@ -143,21 +143,13 @@ async def _inner_send(
         callback = self._connection._send_message_to_server(
             self._object, method, augmented_params, timeout
         )
-        try:
-            done, _ = await asyncio.wait(
-                {
-                    self._connection._transport.on_error_future,
-                    callback.future,
-                },
-                return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED,
-            )
-        except asyncio.CancelledError as exc:
-            await self._connection._abort(
-                self._object,
-                callback,
-                str(exc) or "Task was cancelled",
-            )
-            raise
+        done, _ = await asyncio.wait(
+            {
+                self._connection._transport.on_error_future,
+                callback.future,
+            },
+            return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED,
+        )
         if not callback.future.done():
             callback.future.cancel()
         result = next(iter(done)).result()
@@ -249,10 +241,7 @@ def remove_listener(self, event: str, f: Any) -> None:
 
 
 class ProtocolCallback:
-    def __init__(
-        self, loop: asyncio.AbstractEventLoop, id: int, no_reply: bool = False
-    ) -> None:
-        self.id = id
+    def __init__(self, loop: asyncio.AbstractEventLoop, no_reply: bool = False) -> None:
         self.stack_trace: traceback.StackSummary
         self.no_reply = no_reply
         self.future = loop.create_future()
@@ -404,7 +393,7 @@ def _send_message_to_server(
             )
         self._last_id += 1
         id = self._last_id
-        callback = ProtocolCallback(self._loop, id, no_reply=no_reply)
+        callback = ProtocolCallback(self._loop, no_reply=no_reply)
         task = asyncio.current_task(self._loop)
         callback.stack_trace = cast(
             traceback.StackSummary,
@@ -449,34 +438,6 @@ def _send_message_to_server(
 
         return callback
 
-    async def _abort(
-        self, object: ChannelOwner, callback: ProtocolCallback, reason: str
-    ) -> None:
-        try:
-            self._transport.send(
-                {
-                    "guid": object._guid,
-                    "method": "__abort__",
-                    "params": {"id": callback.id, "reason": reason},
-                }
-            )
-        except (Error, OSError):
-            pass
-        try:
-            done, _ = await asyncio.wait(
-                {
-                    self._transport.on_error_future,
-                    callback.future,
-                },
-                return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED,
-            )
-        finally:
-            if not callback.future.done():
-                callback.future.cancel()
-        for future in done:
-            if not future.cancelled():
-                future.exception()
-
     def dispatch(self, msg: ParsedMessagePayload) -> None:
         if self._closed_error:
             return
diff --git a/playwright/_impl/_transport.py b/playwright/_impl/_transport.py
index 3cc029e18..daeb5e3cf 100644
--- a/playwright/_impl/_transport.py
+++ b/playwright/_impl/_transport.py
@@ -92,18 +92,19 @@ class PipeTransport(Transport):
     def __init__(self, loop: asyncio.AbstractEventLoop) -> None:
         super().__init__(loop)
         self._stopped = False
+        self._output: Optional[asyncio.StreamWriter] = None
+        self._stopped_future: asyncio.Future = loop.create_future()
 
     def request_stop(self) -> None:
-        assert self._output
         self._stopped = True
-        self._output.close()
+        # May be called before connect() has spawned the driver.
+        if self._output:
+            self._output.close()
 
     async def wait_until_stopped(self) -> None:
         await self._stopped_future
 
     async def connect(self) -> None:
-        self._stopped_future: asyncio.Future = asyncio.Future()
-
         try:
             # For pyinstaller and Nuitka
             env = get_driver_env()
@@ -129,10 +130,13 @@ async def connect(self) -> None:
                 startupinfo=startupinfo,
             )
         except Exception as exc:
+            self._stopped_future.set_result(None)
             self.on_error_future.set_exception(exc)
             raise exc
 
         self._output = self._proc.stdin
+        if self._stopped:
+            self.request_stop()
 
     async def run(self) -> None:
         assert self._proc.stdout
diff --git a/playwright/async_api/_context_manager.py b/playwright/async_api/_context_manager.py
index 0c93f7043..e86f225ac 100644
--- a/playwright/async_api/_context_manager.py
+++ b/playwright/async_api/_context_manager.py
@@ -37,13 +37,18 @@ async def __aenter__(self) -> AsyncPlaywright:
         loop.create_task(self._connection.run())
         playwright_future = self._connection.playwright_future
 
-        done, _ = await asyncio.wait(
-            {self._connection._transport.on_error_future, playwright_future},
-            return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED,
-        )
-        if not playwright_future.done():
+        try:
+            done, _ = await asyncio.wait(
+                {self._connection._transport.on_error_future, playwright_future},
+                return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED,
+            )
+            if not playwright_future.done():
+                playwright_future.cancel()
+            playwright = AsyncPlaywright(next(iter(done)).result())
+        except BaseException:
             playwright_future.cancel()
-        playwright = AsyncPlaywright(next(iter(done)).result())
+            await self.__aexit__()
+            raise
         playwright.stop = self.__aexit__  # type: ignore
         return playwright
 
diff --git a/tests/async/test_asyncio.py b/tests/async/test_asyncio.py
index 2c90cb494..89d20791b 100644
--- a/tests/async/test_asyncio.py
+++ b/tests/async/test_asyncio.py
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@
 
 
 async def test_should_cancel_underlying_protocol_calls(
-    browser_name: str,
-    launch_arguments: Dict,
+    browser_name: str, launch_arguments: Dict
 ) -> None:
     handler_exception = None
 
@@ -41,23 +40,12 @@ def exception_handler(loop: asyncio.AbstractEventLoop, context: Dict) -> None:
     async with async_playwright() as p:
         browser = await p[browser_name].launch(**launch_arguments)
         page = await browser.new_page()
-        await page.set_content(
-            """
-            <button disabled onclick="window.clicked = true">click me</button>
-            <script>window.clicked = false</script>
-            """
-        )
-        task = asyncio.create_task(page.locator("button").click(timeout=0))
-        await page.wait_for_timeout(100)
-        assert not task.done()
-
+        task = asyncio.create_task(page.wait_for_selector("will-never-find"))
+        # make sure that the wait_for_selector message was sent to the server (driver)
+        await asyncio.sleep(0.1)
         task.cancel()
         with pytest.raises(asyncio.CancelledError):
             await task
-
-        await page.locator("button").evaluate("button => button.disabled = false")
-        await page.wait_for_timeout(700)
-        assert not await page.evaluate("window.clicked")
         await browser.close()
 
     # The actual 'Future exception was never retrieved' is logged inside the Future destructor (__del__).
@@ -154,3 +142,50 @@ async def test_should_return_proper_api_name_on_error(page: Page) -> None:
     except Exception as error:
         # Each browser returns slightly different error messages, but they should all start with "Page.evaluate:", because that was the Playwright method where the error originated
         assert str(error).startswith("Page.evaluate:")
+
+
+def test_cancelled_playwright_start_does_not_hang(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    # Regression test for https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/42296.
+    # Cancelling __aenter__ left the driver and the transport tasks running,
+    # and asyncio.run() hung at loop shutdown.
+    script = tmp_path / "cancel_start.py"
+    script.write_text(
+        textwrap.dedent(
+            """
+            import asyncio
+
+            from playwright.async_api import async_playwright
+
+
+            async def run_playwright():
+                async with async_playwright():
+                    pass
+
+
+            async def main(delay):
+                task = asyncio.create_task(run_playwright())
+                await asyncio.sleep(delay)
+                task.cancel()
+                try:
+                    await task
+                except asyncio.CancelledError:
+                    pass
+
+
+            for delay in (0.001, 0.05, 0.5):
+                asyncio.run(main(delay))
+            print("DONE", flush=True)
+            """
+        )
+    )
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, str(script)],
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        timeout=60,
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+    assert "DONE" in result.stdout
+    # Nothing is orphaned: no unretrieved futures, and the driver exits cleanly
+    # instead of dying with EPIPE mid-write.
+    assert result.stderr == ""