Boswell & Abbas Burst Into Shock KL Final

Australia's Stewart Boswell and Egyptian Mohammed Abbas will contest the men's final of the CIMB Kuala Lumpur Open after pulling off marathon five-game upsets in today's semi-finals at Berjaya Times Square in the Malaysian capital.

By contrast, the women's semi-finals went according to the seedings - with local favourite Nicol David and second seed Natalie Grinham prevailing to set up a repeat of last November's World Open final in Belfast.

Mohammed Abbas, the fourth seed from Cairo, faced top seed Nick Matthew, the British Open champion from England who was making his PSA Tour comeback after recovering from an ankle injury sustained at the beginning of January.

Abbas moved into the lead after winning the first game on a tie-break - but the Englishman struck back to draw level. Again, the next two games were shared before Abbas edged ahead in the decider to beat Matthew, ranked seven places higher in the world, 11-10 (2-0), 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9 in 65 minutes.

The win marked Abbas' first victory over Matthew for more than four years - and takes the 26-year-old into his seventh PSA Tour final.

Like Abbas, Boswell also delighted the local crowd by avenging a defeat of a Malaysian in the previous round. The 28-year-old from Canberra had to fight back from a game down to overcome Karim Darwish, the second seed from Egypt who beat Sarawak-born defending champion Mohd Azlan Iskandar in the quarter-finals.

Boswell moved 2/1 ahead, but Darwish forced the match into a decider when he took the fourth game. The Australian prevailed after 68 minutes, winning 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 to reach the 27th PSA final of his career.

Crowd favourite Nicol David, the world number one from Malaysia, faced defending champion Vanessa Atkinson in a repeat of the 2006 event women's final. But this time, the top seed triumphed as David extended her unbeaten Tour record since last March by beating the fourth seed from the Netherlands 9-7, 9-7, 9-3 in 54 minutes.

"I'm pretty disappointed," said 2006 champion Atkinson. "I could have been two nil up rather than down if I had played a few points differently and had the run of the ball. I don't think I could have played any better, she just came out ahead on the big points."

In the other semi-final, Natalie Grinham celebrated her 29th birthday in fine style, beating her older sister Rachael Grinham, the No3 seed, 9-5, 9-1, 9-5 in just 38 minutes. The match represented the 13th international clash between the Toowoomba twosome from Queensland - with Natalie reducing Rachael's head-to-head tally since their first meeting, in the KL Open in 2001, to 8-5.

"I have trained well and am in the final so it is fair to say the week is going well," said the birthday girl. "It is always a battle with Nicol and I guess it will be another one tomorrow."

Men's semi-finals:
[4] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt [1] Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-10 (2-0), 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9 (65m)
[3] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [2] Karim Darwish (EGY) 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 (68m)

Women's semi-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [4] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 9-7, 9-7, 9-3 (54m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) 9-5, 9-1, 9-5 (38m)