World Series semi-finals completed!

Greg Gaultier (FRA) beat Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-7, 11-4 in the final pool match of group 2at the World Series Finals 2012 (photo: (www.jordanmansfield.co.uk).

Determined former World No1 Karim Darwish saw off 20-year-old fellow Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy in the final pool round of the ATCO PSA World Series Squash Finals in London to clinch the last semi-final slot. The young pretender, ranked a career-high 6 in the world, led in both games – but experienced Darwish, the World No5, rose to the challenge and clinched an 11-9, 11-9 victory.

With 2 victories already behind him, England’s James Willstrop had already secured a place in the last four. But the newly-crowned World No1 suffered a minor set-back with a shock defeat to Malaysia’s Azlan Iskandar (11-6, 6-11, 11-9).

Frenchman Greg Gaultier (pic ri) became the only player to register 3 wins out of 3 when he defeated Egypt’s 4-time world champion Amr Shabana (pic le) 11-7, 11-4 in just 20 minutes.

The other final pool match in the group saw England’s Peter Barker record his 1st win in the event, stemming a fightback by Laurens Jan Anjema to beat the Dutchman 11-8, 9-11, 11-9 in 51 minutes.

Semi-final line-up:
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) v [4] Amr Shabana (EGY)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [3] Karim Darwish (EGY)