Shabana &
Gaultier To Contest Queen's Climax
RESULTS: ATCO PSA World Series Squash
Finals, London, England
Semi-finals:
[4] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [1] James Willstrop
(ENG) 13-11, 11-5 (44m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [3] Karim Darwish
(EGY) 11-5, 11-5 (33m)
Egypt's distinguished Amr Shabana, the
four-time world champion who boasts 27 titles on the PSA
World Tour, is one step away from winning his first ever
trophy in England after upsetting home hope James
Willstrop in today's semi-finals of the ATCO PSA
World Series Squash Finals at The Queen's Club in
London.
The semi-finals - and
Sunday's final - are being covered live by Sky Sports
in addition to being streamed to enthusiasts all over the
world via
www.psasquashtv.com
Willstrop was top seed in the flagship PSA
World Tour event which features the eight players who earned
the most points from the nine PSA World Series
championships in 2011. It was after winning the last three
World Series events of the year in quick succession that the
Yorkshireman became world number one for the first time at
the beginning of this month.
But Willstrop was unable to match the racket
wizardry of the 30-year-old left-hander who topped the world
rankings for 33 months in a row until the end of 2008.
Shabana rolled back the years to defeat the
Englishman 13-11, 11-5 in his first win over Willstrop for
more than a year. The triumph takes the Egyptian into the
World Series Finals final for the second year in a row.
"To reach the final is amazing considering
the quality of players in the game at the moment and how
well everyone is playing too," said Shabana. "James has the
best hands in English squash and I'm very happy to get this
victory."
In a repeat of the 2008 final, Shabana will
line-up against Frenchman Gregory Gaultier. The
second seed from Aix-en-Provence faced Karim Darwish,
another former world number one from Egypt.
Third seed Darwish romped to a 4-0 lead, but
Gaultier regained control thereafter before closing out the
match 11-5, 11-5 in 33 minutes.
"At the beginning of the first game he was
attacking - I wasn't sharp enough," explained the Frenchman
afterwards. "I really had to be focussed and control the
middle of the court.
"Once I got the first game, I began to get my
confidence back and was able to play my game."
Reflecting on the final, two-time World
Series Finals champion Gaultier added: "Amr was the best
player in the world a few years ago and now I think he's
back. He was really sharp today and beat the world number
one so I'll have to be at my best."
Gaultier is celebrating the 44th PSA Tour
final of his career - but remarkably his fourth World Series
Finals final in only his fourth appearance in the event.
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