Women's favourite Madeline Perry and men's third seed Saurav Ghosal both exited prematurely from the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Squash Open after suffering injuries during the semi-finals of the established international Tour event at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin.
In the women’s WISPA World Tour Silver 20 event, Ireland's defending champion Madeline Perry struggled from the start of her match against Jaclyn Hawkes and seemed to reach every ball a fraction too late to impose herself on the third seed from New Zealand.
Trailing two games down, the world No3 from Belfast conceded the match. Perry said she had injured her back following her quarter final match against Italian Manuela Manetta and was unable to move freely.
Winner of the title four times since 2005, Perry expressed great disappointment at not being able to continue her challenge for her fifth Irish Open squash title: "But I will be back to challenge next year," said the Irish star.
Hawkes, now celebrating her tenth WISPA Tour final appearance, will face Nour El Tayeb, the rising star of women's squash in Egypt.
The 18-year-old fourth seed brought to an end the distinguished squash career of Dutch star Vanessa Atkinson, the 35-year-old former world number one and winner of 24 WISPA Tour titles who was competing in her final Tour event.
Atkinson, winner of the Irish Open title in 2003 and 2004 and runner-up last year, twice led the Cairo teenager – but El Tayeb played with confidence and intelligence to eventually wear down the former world champion 7-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-1, 11-3 in 44 minutes to reach the second Tour final of her young career.
India's Saurav Ghosal was forced to retire in the semi-finals of the men’s PSA World Tour International 25 event after leading by two games and looking very much in control of the match against unseeded Egyptian Tarek Momen.
Leading 7-4 in the third game, a sudden injury forced him off court for treatment. The Kolkata-born world No23 returned to the court, clearly impaired, and tried his best to win the final four points needed to seal the match.
However, despite reaching ten-all, the 24-year-old was unable to make any further impression and, on the advice of a doctor, was forced to retire – leaving Momen to move through to the final after his 8-11, 2-11, 12-10 (ret.) victory.
Momen, the world No24 from Cairo now in his sixth Tour final, will face top seed Stewart Boswell after the world No20 from Australia ended the run of Spaniard Borja Golan, three times a finalist in Dublin, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 in 58 minutes.
Boswell, the 32-year-old former world No4 from Canberra, is celebrating his 35th PSA Tour final.
RESULTS: Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open, Dublin, Ireland
Men's semi-finals:
[1] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 (58m)
Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [3] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 8-11, 2-11, 12-10 ret. (49m)
Women’s semi-finals:
[3] Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) bt [1] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-5, 11-7 ret. (21m)
[4] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 7-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-1, 11-3 (44m)