Willstrop Ends Gaultier's World Series Finals Title Defence

England's world No.1 James Willstrop denied defending champion Gregory Gaultier a place in the semi-finals of the Men's 2016/17 PSA Dubai World Series Finals after defeating the world No.1 from France in straight games on the second day of pool action in the prestigious season-ending event at Dubai Opera.

Gaultier came into the event boasting a career-best 27-match unbeaten run - during which he claimed six successive Tour titles.

However, the heavy schedule looks to have caught up with him in Dubai after he slumped to a defeat to Willstrop - which, with his first round loss to Ali Farag, means that the illustrious Frenchman has failed to reach the semi-finals for the first time in his career.

"If you get a result over Greg then something is clearly going well," said Willstrop after his best-of-three-games 11-9 11-4 victory in 28 minutes.

"Nobody is beating him at the minute and it's difficult for me not to point out that he's had a tough season.

"I know how difficult it is mentally to have to get yourself up for every tournament for a whole season."

Willstrop and Farag will clash next to decide who joins Mohamed Elshorbagy in the semi-finals. World No.3 Elshorbagy sealed his place in the last four after beating fellow Egyptian Farag to seal qualification from Group B after seeing off Willstrop on day one.

"I'm happy that I won using my own strengths, which is something I did when I was world No.1," said Elshorbagy after his dramatic three-game battle, clinching it 12-10 in the third-game tie-break.

"I was challenged, but I threw myself into that challenge and being 1/0 down and one game away from losing the match was tough mentally. When I was at my best that's what I was good at and that's what made me different from other players because I could get through those kind of situations.

"We had some issues in the first two matches we played in the season, in Al Ahram and the World Championship, but it felt like we both got that anger out of each other. Since those two matches we started to have so much respect for each other."

Egypt's Marwan Elshorbagy defeated Germany's Simon Rösner to go top of Group A, which means that England's Nick Matthew - who went down 2/0 to world champion Karim Abdel Gawad - must now beat Rösner 2/0 in his final match, while hoping that Elshorbagy junior beats Gawad 2/0, to have any hope of reaching the semi-finals.

In the women's event, England's defending champion Laura Massaro is the first player to qualify after defeating compatriot Sarah-Jane Perry in Group A.

A confident display from Massaro saw her follow up her opening day win over two-time winner Nicol David to take the opening game before overturning five game balls in the second to seal the victory by an 11-6, 14-12 scoreline.

"I'm really happy, maybe it's better that I need to go in and get a result tomorrow," said Massaro.

"I'll still want to win tomorrow regardless of whether I'm qualified or not. It's great to know that I'm in the semi-finals, but there's still a job to do tomorrow."

Nour El Sherbini sits in second place in Group A after she claimed an eighth successive win over David, meaning that the twice champion from Malaysia misses out on a place in the semi-finals for the first time in her glittering career.

A 2/0 win over Massaro for El Sherbini in her final group fixture will see her top the group, while a 2/1 win could also see her qualify ahead of Perry depending on how she does in her match with David.

French world No.3 Camille Serme made it two wins out of two to top Group B, with World Junior Champion Nouran Gohar going down in a 2/1 thriller to leave Serme on the cusp of qualification for the last four.

"I'm very happy, I saw myself winning, then losing, then winning again, so anything could have happened," said Serme.

"I guess we'll know more about what's going to happen after the second group match, but it's already better than last year, last year I only won one match, so it's positive and I'm going to give it everything tomorrow."

Victory for Serme over World Championship runner-up Raneem El Welily will guarantee her a place in the semi-finals, but it's all to play for as a defeat could allow any two of El Welily, Gohar or England's Alison Waters to qualify.

The World Series Finals brings together the top eight players on the Men's and Women's PSA Road to Dubai Standings who are then split into two groups of four, with matches played in a best-of-three games format.

Players then battle for points to qualify for the knockout semi-finals and beyond.