Nicol David and Laura Massaro gave the British Open squash tournament the dream final widely hoped for when the legendary Malaysian and the surprising Englishwoman survived minor scares in their respective semi-finals on Saturday.
Malaysia's top-seeded David, who has been world number one for almost eight years, overcame Alison Waters, the British national champion, 8-11 11-5 11-4 11-2, after recovering from a edgy start to score points with an increasing and pleasing variety.
Second-seeded Massaro, who has succeeded David as World and British Open champion, had a difficult beginning too, but found ways to slow down the hustling creativity of Raneem El Weleily, the third-seeded Egyptian, in an 8-11 11-5 11-4 11-2 victory.
David's start was worrying but her game blossomed after she had worked her way back into it in the second game with a steady and determined effort.
"I was able to take her out of her comfort area," said a pleased David, who once lost to Waters 20 months ago in the United States.
"Then I was able to take control. I was really pleased to finish it with a mix of variety."
Massaro, who has never had the pressure of defending a big title before a home crowd before, began tensely too.
But the third game marked a shift of balance as Massaro's accuracy grew and El Weleily's rhythm became disrupted.
"I feel like Raneem gets to be frustrated with me," said Massaro.
In the men's event, Gregory Gaultier celebrated reclaiming the world number one ranking last month by ending Ramy Ashour's title defence.
Gaultier, the winner of the world's oldest squash title in 2007, won 11-7 12-10 3-11 over an opponent who had prevailed in nine of their past ten encounters.
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"I was out of gas, so I couldn't do much," said Gaultier rather modestly. "I was just hoping to get a break and I got it."
He now has another meeting with Nick Matthew, the top-seeded Englishman who narrowly denied him in the final of the World Open in Manchester six months ago.
Though now nearly 34, Matthew made a tremendous comeback to beat Mohamed El Shorbagy, the fourth-seeded Egyptian, 4-11 14-12 3-11 11-6 11-8 in easily the longest match of the tournament at 104 minutes.
Asked if this was one of the best performances of a long career, Matthew said: "It was a little bit edgy, the composure was up and down, and we both over-hit sometimes, but in terms of mental effort it was up there (with my best ever matches)."
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