Matthew & Elshorbagy Set Up US Open Final Showdown

World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy and former world No.1 Nick Matthew and will renew their rivalry in the final of the 2016 Delaware Investments US Open after securing their place in the climax of the second PSA World Series event of the season courtesy of two outstanding semi-final performances at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

After producing the performance of the tournament so far to outclass world No.6 Ali Farag in the quarters Matthew, the 36-year-old three-time World Champion from England, displayed the type of tenacious never-say-die attitude that has epitomised his career as he came through a nail-biting five-game battle with Karim Abdel Gawad - the world No.4 who won the Al-Ahram Open last month.

In a highly-competitive match that went all the way to a fifth-game tie-break, it was Matthew who came through 11-4, 7-11, 16-14, 3-11, 12-10 to set up a 19th meeting, and a 7th title-decider, with Elshorbagy.

"I've lost here in the semis the last few years so I was really motivated to try and make the final," said Matthew. "I don't know how many more times I'll be able to play at the US Open so I wanted to do my best and leave it all on there.

"I was digging in and on the back foot a lot. He nullified a lot of my strengths - I'm proud of how I managed to problem-solve and come through. I tried to start the fifth as well as possible and that put me in a good position.

"Mohamed is a great fighter," added Matthew. "He's already surpassed the likes of Ramy (Ashour), Greg (Gaultier) and myself, in terms of being world number one and top of the rankings - and he's insatiable so I know I'm going to have to be at my best tomorrow!

"But I'm just thrilled to be here, in the US Open final, so I will come back tomorrow and do my best and play hard and fair."

Elshorbagy meanwhile denied the possibility of an all-English finale as he halted the run of a resurgent James Willstrop - the 33-year-old Englishman who downed Omar Mosaad in the first round in a return to his best form - to secure a 3/0 win that belied the quality and competitiveness of the encounter that saw them engage in rally after rally of the highest quality.

The Egyptian came close to exiting the event at the first hurdle, scraping through against Mexican Cesar Salazar 3/2 having faced two match balls, but has gone from strength to strength since then and put in the best performance of his season to date as he dealt with everything Willstrop threw at him in a display of defensive excellence.

"Playing the first round I thought I was already going back home," said Elshorbagy.

"Next minute I'm into the US Open final. When you experience moments like this you feel very, very lucky. I'm so happy to be back into the final here and I'm really looking forward to the final now.

"Today I had to play my best squash and really bring out my A-game - he's been playing so well this week. How he's got back to the form he is in after his injury shows the great champion he is and it has been inspiration to watch.

"But I'm here to compete and challenge for titles. I hate losing and gave it everything today to get into the final."

In the Women's draw France's Camille Serme, the 27-year-old from Créteil, secured her first appearance in a major final since winning the iconic British Open in 2015 after a sublime performance saw her defeat home favourite and world No.6 Amanda Sobhy.

Serme came through a mentally challenging five-game battle with England's Laura Massaro, the 2015 US Open champion, in the quarter-finals and showed the characteristics of a true champion to back up from that performance and put together another display packed with pinpoint accuracy and tactical precision to thwart the aggressive attacking play of Sobhy, the 2010 runner-up, 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5.

"I'm so happy, I can't believe it," said Serme, who showed great mental strength to recover from losing match ball in the third game to take the match in four.

"When you've lost a match ball it isn't easy to re-group and stay focused - I'm so glad I could do it.

"The tactic was to get in front of her and not let her play her shots. She hits the ball so hard and today she was using her lob to make it difficult for me but I wanted to make it more physical, and make the rallies long, to try and tire her out.

"I'm just so, so happy to make it to the final."

Serme will now face world No.1 Nour El Sherbini in the final after the 20-year-old overcome Raneem El Welily 3/1 to earn revenge for her defeat to her compatriot and former world No.1 in the final of last month's Al-Ahram Open.

It was El Welily - the 27-year-old who downed Nicol David in the match of the tournament so far to reach the semi-finals - who started the stronger, using her limitless attacking talents to take the opening game 11-8 in relatively straight forward manner. But El Sherbini stormed back to take three games in a row to run out an 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 winner.

"It was a really hard match from the start," said El Sherbini, the 2014 US Open runner-up.

"Raneem beat me a few weeks ago in Al-Ahram and she has been playing well the whole week and is in top form - so I didn't expect that I would win today.

"But I'm really happy with my performance. I'm getting better every match and I'm happy to be back in the final of the US Open once again. Hopefully this time I can take the title."

US Open image courtesy of www.squashpics.com