Balbo & Bianchetti In Surprise Santiago Final

French qualifier Julien Balbo and fifth-seeded Italian Davide Bianchetti will meet in a surprise men's final of the 25th Anniversary Squash Club Santiago Open, the $30,000 3-star PSA Tour event in Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

By contrast, the women's WISPA World Tour 4 event will climax in a match between the top two seeds - with second seed Camille Serme providing further French interest in a match against Irish favourite Aisling Blake.

With upsets over local hero and top seed Borja Golan and sixth seed Liam Kenny behind him, Julien Balbo faced compatriot Renan Lavigne, the third seed, in the semi-finals. The experienced 33-year-old took the first two games and reached match ball in the third.

But Balbo, the 28-year-old world No70 from Chambery, saved a total of six match balls before taking the game - then went on to clinch the next two to record a notable 4-11, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8, 11-8 victory in 55 minutes over his fellow countryman ranked more than 40 places higher in the world.

In the fifth - and biggest - PSA Tour final of his career, Balbo will face Davide Bianchetti. In a match which lasted almost twice as long as the other semi-final, Bianchetti twice came from behind to beat Welshman Alex Gough, the No2 seed, 4-11, 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-4 in 102 minutes.

The 30-year-old from Brescia is celebrating the 15th Tour final of his career.

After taking surprise places in the women's semi-finals, qualifiers Faustine Gilles and Nour El Tayeb were unable to progress further. Gilles, from France, went down 9-4, 9-3, 9-2 to top seed Aisling Blake while 14-year-old Egyptian Nour El Tayeb extended second seed Camille Serme for 31 minutes before losing 9-2, 9-5, 9-7.

"I knew that if I wanted to survive that one, I had to give it my best from the start," Serme told www.squashsite.co.uk afterwards.

The 18-year-old European Junior Champion from Creteil is celebrating her third appearance in a WISPA Tour final, while Blake is marking her fourth.

Men's semi-finals:
[Q] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [3] Renan Lavigne (FRA) 4-11, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8, 11-8 (55m)
[5] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt [2] Alex Gough (WAL) 4-11, 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-4 (102m)

Women's semi-finals:
[1] Aisling Blake (IRL) bt [Q] Faustine Gilles (FRA) 9-4, 9-3, 9-2 (21m)
[2] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [Q] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 9-2, 9-5, 9-7 (31m)