South African Siyoli Waters put paid to all-Egyptian finals in the Egyptian Circuit No1 after upsetting second seed Kanzy Emad El-Defrawy in the women's semi-finals of the WISPA World Tour 8 squash event at the Shooting Club in Cairo.
After dropping the first game, the fourth seed from Cape Town survived a tie-break second game before going on to claim an impressive 7-11, 13-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-7 victory over El-Defrawy, the world No41 from Cairo.
Now in the second Tour final of her career – and her second of the year – world No64 Waters will face favourite Heba El Torky, the world No36 from Alexandria.
El Torky also had to come back from a game down to beat England's third seed Emily Whitlock, the 17-year-old recently-crowned European junior champion, 8-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-3.
The 20-year-old Egyptian is celebrating her fourth WISPA Tour final – and will be looking to extend her unbeaten record in finals to date.
Unseeded Amr Khaled Khalifa will face second seed Omar Abdel Aziz in the final of the men's PSA World Tour Challenger 10 event after the Egyptian pair survived contrasting semi-finals.
Khalifa, the reigning world junior champion from Cairo, needed 54 minutes to overcome Giza-based 23-year-old Omar Abdel Meguid, also unseeded, 6-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-2.
The 18-year-old is celebrating the eighth Tour final appearance of his career – but, surprisingly perhaps, his first on home soil.
Aziz, the 27-year-old world No42, made it into the final after just a few points into the second game of the other semi when his Italian opponent Amr Swelim retired injured with the score at 11-2, 1-3.
The brief victory takes Aziz into his 10th PSA Tour final.
RESULTS: Egyptian Circuit No1, Cairo, Egypt
Men's semi-finals:
Amr Khaled Khalifa (EGY) bt Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 6-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-2 (54m)
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt Amr Swelim (ITA) 11-2, 1-3 ret.
Women’s semi-finals:
[1] Heba El Torky (EGY) bt [3] Emily Whitlock (ENG) 8-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-3 (35m)
[4] Siyoli Waters (RSA) bt [2] Kanzy Emad El-Defrawy (EGY) 7-11, 13-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-7 (35m)