Men's semi-finals:
[4] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [1] Amr
Shabana (EGY) 11-6,
7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7 (63m)
[7] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [5] David Palmer (AUS) 11-6,
11-9, 11-8 (46m)
Women's semi-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [14] Madeline Perry (IRL)
11-6, 11-8,
11-6 (35m)
[11] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [5] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) 11-3, 11-6 ret. (22m)
Botwright To Face David In Dream Manchester World
Final
After consistently failing to live up to expectations
on her 'home' court at the National Squash
Centre in Manchesterfor
the past ten years, Vicky
Botwright provided the dream outcome for
the organisers of the Hi-Tec World Open
Squash Championships by earning a place in
tomorrow's (Sunday) women's final in the English city.
The world's leading players from more than 30 countries have
been competing in the Hi-Tec World Squash
Championships – Manchester 2008, the first ever joint
staging of the Men's World
Open and Women's World
Openin the UK.
Botwright, the 11th seed, is bidding farewell to the WISPA World
Tour after
taking up the position of Head Coach at the
Centre. But,
in the second round, the Manchester-based 31-year-old stunned the
squash world by ousting Australian title-holder Rachael
Grinham.
The former England number one then clinched her first appearance
in the world final when higher-ranked England team-mate Jenny
Duncalf retired injured after two
games.
"I don't know what to say - it's unbelievable," said the
jubilant Mancunian afterwards. "I thought I could beat her -
but I didn't want to do it like that.
"But even if I win the title tomorrow, I will still be back at
work at the centre on Monday morning!"
Duncalf, the fifth seed from Harrogate in Yorkshire, was
devastated to have pulled out prematurely: "It was in the second rally of
the match that something went in my right thigh - and I didn't know
what to do. I
took a three-minute injury break in the game, but the injury
affected my movement and after two games I couldn't go on.
"I've never come off injured in my life before - it's not a
great time to do it in a World Open!"
Botwright
will face strong favourite Nicol
David in
the final. The world number one from
Malaysia beat surprise opponentMadeline Perry, the
14th seed from Ireland, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 to reach her
tenth successive Tour final since her shock second round defeat in
the 2007 World Open a year ago in Madrid.
David acknowledged that she has raised her game over the past
year:
"Every tournament I play, I learn more about myself -
and with this new scoring, you have to be sharp. You can't afford to lose
concentration."
Later the capacity crowd in Manchester - which included two IOC
delegates attending the event in the observation process for
Squash's bid to become an Olympic sport in 2016 - witnessed a
titanic all-Egyptian encounter in which 21-year-old Ramy
Ashour beat defending
champion Amr Shabana,
the world No1, 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9,
11-7.
Shabana, who celebrated his 31st month in a row as world
number one this month and was looking to become only the fourth
player in history to win a fourth world title, rued his missed
chances when leading 5-3 and 8-6 in the fourth game.
"I had my chances and missed them - I should have won in the
fourth," said the 29-year-old from Giza
afterwards. "I played all right - he had
to play well to beat me."
Fourth seed Ashour, who earlier in the tournament had admitted
being nervous about being back in England for the first time since
an injury-beset British Open in May, was delighted with his
performance.
"I think that was my best ever match - I gave it
all. I've
never been so focussed."
In his
first appearance in a World Open final, Ashour will face fellow
countryman Karim
Darwish, after the 27-year-old from Cairo beat Australia's
former champion David
Palmer 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 in 46
minutes.
"I'm so happy to be in the final of the World Open - the biggest
event of the year," said the seventh seed. "And I am so pleased to be in
the final against my team-mate Ramy. Off court, we are really good
friends, but on-court we don't think about it!"
