RESULTS: Oregon Open Squash Championship, Portland, Oregon, USA
Quarter-finals:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [7] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-5, 11-2, 10-11 (0-2), 11-4 (56m)
[3] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt [5] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-7, 11-10 (2-0), 6-11, 6-11, 11-3 (105m)
[Q] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4 (45m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [6] Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-5, 11-2, 11-8 (33m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [3] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-10 (3-1), 11-7, 11-8 (73m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-4, 11-10 (2-0), 11-4 (52m)
Frenchman Thierry Lincou battled for 73 minutes to beat Wael El Hindi in the semi-finals of the Oregon Open Squash Championship to put paid to an all-Egyptian final of the $50,000 5-star PSA Tour event at Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, USA.
Lincou, the top seed, beat the third seed from Cairo 11-10 (3-1), 11-7, 11-8 to reach the 36th PSA Tour final of his career - and his second this year.
The 31-year-old from Marseille's opponent will be Karim Darwish, the second seed from Egypt who ended qualifier Jan Koukal's run in an 11-4, 11-10 (2-0), 11-4 defeat in 52 minutes.
Darwish is celebrating his 19th PSA final appearance and will be meeting Lincou for the tenth time on the Tour. Lincou boasts a 7-2 head-to-head record over the Egyptian, but Darwish's victories came in the pair's two most recent meetings.