MANCHESTER, England (AFP) — Amr Shabana, the first Egyptian to win three World Opens, lost his title on Saturday to a man who was once his fan.
Shabana, who has been world number one for 31 successive months, seemed odds on to continue his progress when he led 9-8 in the fourth game against his 21-year-old compatriot Ramy Ashour, but could not push his advantage home and was beaten 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7.
There were no such problems, however, for women's top seed Nicol David as the Malaysian golden girl reached the final without losing a game.
David's 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 victory over the surprise survivor from Ireland, Madeline Perry, was her fourth straight-games success of the week.
It would have been no consolation for Shabana to know that he had taken part in the best match of the tournament.
"I had my chance in that fourth game and I didn't take it," said the former champion, frustrated that he had let slip the chance to join an elite group comprising the two legendary Pakistanis, Jahangir and Jansher Khan, and the great Australian Geoff Hunt, who have won four or more World Opens.
Instead he allowed a volleying chance for Ashour to thunder the ball across court into the sidewall nick, making the ball roll dead, and was then unable to contain two further attacks from the younger man.
In the fifth, Ashour was inspired and he shot to a 7-0 lead before Shabana began to claw his way back, getting to 6-9 and 7-10.
"That was scary," said Ashour. "But now I just grateful to have played a match like this. I think it was classic.
"I grew up watching him play. But now I focussed like I never have before," added the man who won the Super Series title in the same arena last year.
Ashour will play in the final another Egyptian, Karim Darwish, the seventh seed, who also confounded the seedings by beating David Palmer, the British Open champion from Australia 11-6, 11-9, 11-8.
However, the result was less of a surprise than it seemed, for Darwish was on top against Palmer in the British Open five months ago, when he sustained an injury which forced him to retire.
Palmer, twice the former champion, was so frustrated with his performance that he got himself a code violation warning for hitting the ball out of the court.
Meanwhile, David's bid to regain the world title will face its last test on Sunday against England's Vicky Botwright who made the final when Jenny Duncalf was forced to retire with an injury.
"I'm very pleased - it's going to be good," said David, who lost both the British and World Open titles last year, but regained the British at Liverpool in May.
Now she is heavy odds on to win this one back, after another superbly athletic display.
"I am going to bring whatever I had on court in getting here and maybe bring it up a level," said David looking ahead to the final.
"The main thing is that I work on my performances and see how I can improve. If that works out then the results will show it."
David's next opponent, Botwright, had already shocked Rachael Grinham, the defending world champion from Australia and Saturday survived a semi-final with Duncalf when the current England number one retired with a thigh injury.
Botwright won the opening games 11-3, 11-6
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