Shabana & Gaultier To Contest US Open Final

Egypt's world No1 Amr Shabana and France's Gregory Gaultier will meet in the final of the US Open at the Back Bay Events Center in John Hancock Hall in Boston to guarantee a new champion of one of the world's most prestigious squash titles.

While Shabana was expected to overcome his fast-improving young compatriot Ramy Ashour, the 11th seed, in the semi-finals, sixth seed Gaultier had to battle for more than an hour to upset second seed David Palmer to claim his maiden PSA Tour win in six meetings against the former US Open champion from Australia.

The opening rallies of the second semi-final were shared until seven-all, when David Palmer kicked up the pressure to go 10-7 ahead. Gaultier, on the other hand, had other plans and not only came back to tie it, but took the game in a tie-break to open up a one-game lead.

The Australian, runner-up last year, went 9-2 up in the second game, when Gaultier responded with six unanswered points. But it was too little, too late, as Palmer wisely took himself in hand and drew level.

The pair were equally matched until four-all in the third when the Frenchman zipped ahead to 9-4, looking to seal Palmer's fate. The Aussie persevered to make the game competitive, but went down as Gaultier edged ahead.

The underdog again led in the fourth 4-1, but Palmer edged in a few points via several Gaultier errors and his own well-placed shots. Gaultier, conversely, was determined not to be trifled with and responded in kind, going up 10-5. Palmer finessed two stunning shots to bring the score to 7-10, before Gaultier earned his 11-10 (2-0), 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 win - and a date with the favourite in the final, his fourth on the PSA Tour this year, and the 18th of his career.

In the first game of the much-anticipated match between the two Egyptians, the early exchanges were evenly-matched. At 10-all, Shabana won the serve and hoped to finish off his young compatriot - but a stunning volley that had the crowd roaring with delight, followed up with a quick winner, earned Ashour the first game.

The energetic Ashour, the 19-year-old who had earlier taken out fourth-seeded Australian Anthony Ricketts, used every surface of the court to return well-placed shots from Shabana. Tied at five-all, several Ashour errors afforded Shabana the chance to jump ahead 9-5.

The volley for the tenth point was another crowd pleaser, ultimately going to Shabana and setting the tone for the final point and win for the world number one from Cairo.

After taking the third, Shabana took advantage of a rare bout of clumsiness by Ashour, and quickly ran up the score to 8-0. Looking as if the 'magnitude' of his run for the US Open title might have compromised his concentration, Ashour stunned the crowd as he stole an astonishing nine match points to take the game to another tie-break.

An amazed audience watched as the Egyptian 'wonder kid' finally succumbed to the world number one - but not before endearing himself to a new legion of fans.

Shabana's 10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-8, 11-10 (2-0) victory in 56 minutes takes the 27-year-old into his second successive PSA Tour final - the fifth of the year and the 19th of his career.

Semi-finals:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [11] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-8, 11-10 (2-0) (56m)
[6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [2] David Palmer (AUS) 11-10 (2-0), 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 (69m)