Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour to meet in Kuwait Open final for fourth-straight time
It will be an all-Egyptian final for the fourth time running as Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour defeated their respective opponents to progress to the final.
Shabana defeated Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in their semi-final meeting winning in 56 minutes before Gaultier retired. Shabana had been winning 11-9, 11-3, 7-5. The hot conditions seemed to take their
toll on the Frenchman who took a three-minute injury break in the third game before deciding to concede the match to Shabana, who called the match, "probably the hardest I ever played in my life."
It was a gruelling first set that saw Shabana just edge out Gaultier that seemed to break the Frenchman's will as he fell heavily in the second set. But he battled back to keep the third set close despite
obviously not being in the best playing state.
Shabana spoke with www.squashsite.co.uk after the match saying, "Greg pushed and pushed, until he’s got nothing left. He is a great athlete, that’s all I can say.
"We played a very good game of squash tonight, and I hope that he will be recovering soon, because we need Greg’s squash on the tour."
In the other semi-final between Ramy Ashour and James Willstrop, the Englishman pushed the young Egyptian right to the end in a marathon 82 minute match eventually won by Ashour 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12,
11-7.
Ashour, the current world number one, will take on Shabana in his 30th tour final. "This was hard, of course – it’s one of the toughest games I ever played. But tonight, with the crowd cheering me, I just
couldn’t let them down," Ashour said. "James played perfectly – he was ready to snap every shot, every ball. He is hard to play against, you never know where he is going to put the ball."
Despite the loss, Willstrop had a marvelous tournament and the 27-year-old was able to take away many positives from his impressive showing.
"I think the big match I had last night helped me relax," he said referring to his 85-minute quarter-final upset of Karim Darwish, "I mean, it was such a brutal match, I finished late, trying and sleep
was a nightmare because of the adrenaline pumping. I was still up for it, of course, but not putting too much pressure on myself."
Shabana and Ashour now get set to contest the final on Tuesday, 2 November.
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