Gaultier & Darwish To Battle For Squash's Richest Prize

Second-seeded Frenchman Gregory Gaultier and Egypt's Karim Darwish, the No7 seed, will compete for the richest prize in world squash when they meet in the final of the Saudi International after surviving tough semi-final battles in the $250,000 PSA Tour Super Series Platinum championship in the Saudi city of Al-Khobar.

Darwish, the world No2 from Cairo, followed up his sensational quarter-final victory over world number one ranked compatriot Amr Shabana with a hard-fought win over Nick Matthew, the No8 seed from England, to reach his sixth PSA Tour final of the year - and the 24th of his career.

The 27-year-old from Cairo saved a game-ball in the first game before going on to forge a two-game lead - then reached match-ball at 10-8 in the third. But Matthew fought back to force the match into a fourth game - before Darwish took control again to close out the match 14-12, 11-3, 11-13, 11-6 after 71 minutes.

"The first game was crucial," Matthew told the official website www.atcosquash.com later. "I had a couple of chances but couldn't take them, then I slowed up in the second when I had a drop in energy and he caught me out with drops and when I started moving forward he threw in a few good flicks."

Darwish was delighted with his performance: "It's a dream come true this week, getting to number one and getting to the final of a $250k event. I've played well all week but that was a really tough match. Nick played well and the support of the crowd was great."

The second semi saw second seed Gaultier save game balls in the first two games against David Palmer before completing a straight games win to take him into his second Saudi International final.

"He's a tough man, big and strong and he has so much experience and gives you no cheap points," said Gaultier of his fifth-seeded Australian opponent after the 13-11, 15-13, 11-7 victory. "You have to fight for each rally and that's what I did tonight.

"I pushed a lot when I was down in the first two, I had to play my best squash at game ball down and luckily I was really fast and found my shots at the right time.

"I know the crowd will support Karim tomorrow, but I'm here to win. I'll go on and focus on my game and my squash, it won't bother me. I beat him 3/0 in the Macau final a couple of weeks ago, but he's playing much better this week so it should be a good match."

Like Darwish, Gaultier is also celebrating his sixth final appearance of the year - but has now built up 31 career final appearances.

But, for both players, all previous finals will take a back seat as they do battle for the biggest cheque of their lives - worth $37,400.

Semi-finals:
[7] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [8] Nick Matthew (ENG) 14-12, 11-3, 11-13, 11-6 (71m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [5] David Palmer (AUS) 13-11, 15-13, 11-7 (56m)