RESULTS: Warid Pakistan Open Squash Championship, Islamabad, Pakistan
2nd round:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [14] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (30m)
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [13] Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (19m)
[3] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (31m)
[8] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [9] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-4, 11-3, 11-9 (34m)
[6] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [11] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-5, 6-11, 11-3, 11-10 (5-3) (50m)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 10-11 (0-2), 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (57m)
[7] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [15] Shahid Zaman (PAK) 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (3-1), 11-7, 11-7 (49m)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [16] Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (30m)
Quarter-finals:
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [1] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-7, 7-4 ret.
[8] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [3] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 (53m)
[6] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [4] James Willstrop (ENG) 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (2-0), 10-11 (0-2), 11-6, 11-10 (2-0) (73m)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [7] Stewart Boswell (AUS) 5-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9, 11-9 (58m)
Semi-finals:
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [8] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 11-9, 11-3, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8 (62m)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [6] Karim Darwish (EGY) 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, 4-1 ret. (36m)
Thierry Lincou and Gregory Gaultier will meet in the first all-French final of the Warid Pakistan Open Squash Championship after victories over Egyptians in today's (Friday) semi-finals of the PSA Super Series event in Islamabad.
It will be the second time in three months that the pair have faced off in a PSA Tour event final – after contesting the Mamut English Open climax in Sheffield in August.
Gaultier, the in-form 23-year-old from Aix-en-Provence who clinched the US Open title earlier in the month as the sixth seed, was taken the full distance by rising star Ramy Ashour, the record two-times world junior champion who has catapulted into the world top ten this month.
The teenager stormed into the semi-finals after upsetting third seed Anthony Ricketts – his second defeat of the Australian in ten days – in the quarter-finals.
After Gaultier took the opening two games in the semi-final, 19-year-old Ashour, the No8 seed, struck to draw level. But the fifth-seeded Frenchman regained the upper hand to win 11-9, 11-3, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8 in 62 minutes to reach his fifth final since August.
Lincou made the semis after a 58-minute victory over Australia's No7 seed Stewart Boswell. His opponent Karim Darwish, the sixth seed from Cairo, survived a nail-biting quarter-final against England's fourth seed James Willstrop, beating his fellow former world junior champion in a remarkable 73-minute match which boasted a 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (2-0), 10-11 (0-2), 11-6, 11-10 (2-0) scoreline.
In the semi-final, the second-seeded Frenchman from Marseille fought back from a game down to defeat Darwish in 36 minutes – the Egyptian conceding the match with the score standing at 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, 4-1.
Lincou is celebrating his 32nd career final.