Delierre Prevails In Historic Baltimore Semi

Fourth seed Shawn Delierre overcame top-seeded fellow Canadian Shahier Razik to reach the final of the Baltimore Cup at the Baltimore Country Club in Baltimore, USA, in a 150-minute marathon which is the longest-recorded squash match in history since the scoring system went to PAR (point-a-rally).

"It was a real war of attrition, with both players looking to accurately move the ball around the court as opposed to going for the outright winner, and a high percentage of rallies ending in a decision from the referee," said tournament organiser Ben Garner of the battle between the top two Canadians.

Razik, the world No22 from Toronto, took a two-game lead, then had three match balls in the fourth game before Delierre, from Montreal, eventually clinched his historic 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-5 victory after two hours and 30 minutes!

The longest recorded match in the sport took place in 1983 - in the era of 'hand-in-hand-out' scoring - when legendary Pakistani Jahangir Khan beat Egyptian Gamal Awad 9-10, 9-5, 9-7, 9-2 in the 166-minute Chichester Festival final in England.

The other semi-final match in the $10,000 PSA Tour event in Baltimore also saw the victor come back from a two-game deficit. Having won the first two games, second-seeded Mexican Eric Galvez appeared to tire as defending champion Yasser El Halaby, the third seed from Egypt, fought back to win 7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-1, 11-8 in 65 minutes.

Semi-finals:
[4] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt [1] Shahier Razik (CAN) 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-5 (150m)
[3] Yasser El Halaby (EGY) bt [2] Eric Galvez (MEX) 7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-1, 11-8 (65m)