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[1] Nick
Matthew (Eng) bt [3] Amr Shabana (Egy)
11/6, 12/10, 12/10 (59m)
Matthew ends
Shabana's reign
 It
will be an all-English final and and English World Champion in
Saudi after top seed Nick Matthew deposed reigning champion Amr
Shabana in front of a packed crowd at the Sunset Beach resort in
Al-Khobar.
Matthew got off to the perfect start, quickly establishing a 6/1
lead in the opening game. Shabana came into the match and the
rallies lengthened as he closed the gap, getting as close as
6/5, but Matthew pulled away again, getting a lucky bounce to go
8/5 up and finishing the game off with three winning shots.
In the second it was Shabana's turn to take a lead, 7/2 this
time, but Matthew, as determined as ever, took five poins in a
row to level. They matched each other point for point after
that, Shabana squandering his game ball with a rash attempted
volley boast, then falling foul of a stroke and tinning at the
end of a scrambling rally as Matthew went two up.
Little to choose between them in the third, Shabana generally
having a one or two point advantage , but Matthew hung on to his
coat-tails, levelling at 5-all, 6-all, 7-all and 9-all.
A volley into the tin gave Shabana another chance to open his
account, but another attempted winner found the tin for 10-all,
the tin intervened for match ball to Matthew, who got the better
of the last rally, driving the ball deep beyond a despairing
Shabana's reach.
 "I
got off to a very good start in the first game, then I was just
hanging on, he was just so tight down the forehand side, he was
killing me there
"I just got the belief from being one up, then two up, I
just kept pushing and pushing, there was absolutely nothing in
it.
"So proud to have two English boys in the final, but it's not
done yet.
"I played the final here last year, that was an amazing
experience, even though I lost. I haven't won one of Ziad's
tournaments yet, so hopefully I can change that here tomorrow
..."
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[6] James
Willstrop (Eng) bt [8] Peter Barker (Eng)
8/11, 14/12, 11/4, 11/8 (87m)
Willstrop still on top
They've played so many times before, in the World Junior Final
even, but James Willstrop and Peter Barker had never played a
match as important as this. With Nick Matthew already waiting in
the final, they knew that the winner would be part of a historic
all-English final.
 Eight-seven
minutes for four games tells you it was a tense affair, the
first two games especially so. After an even opening, Barker
pulled clear from 3-all to establish a 7/3 lead. Willstrop
fought back, getting as close as 6/7 but Barker pulled away
again, earning four games balls at 10/6.
Two tins brought Willstrop closer again, but at the end of a
scrambling rally Barker drove the ball deep and clenched his
fist as he left the court with a one game lead.
Willstrop held the edge for most of the second game, but not by
much. His one or two point leads disappeared as Barker levelled
at 8-all, and a long dropshot gave the Essex man a shot at a two
game lead at 10/9. Willstrop saved that, and in tense extra
points it was Willstrop who finally grasped the nettle,
volley-dropping to take it on his third opportunity.
 From
there, the Yorkshireman was largely in control. An early lead in
the third was consolidated in treble quick time - 24 minutes for
the first game, 29 for the second, just 8 for the third.
And he started the fourth looking relatively comfortable too,
but this time Barker refused to be shaken off. There wasn't the
intensity of the first two games though, and although Barker
fought back to lead 7/6, Willstrop kept plugging away at his
game and earned back his advantage. 9/6, two points clawed back
for 9/8, 10/8 with a volley drop.
Willstrop dropped, Barker fell as he went to get it. Willstrop
thought he might have won, but a let it was. He left no room for
recovery on the next dropshot though, and with a somewhat weary,
very relieved raise of his arms he was through to the final.
 "It
was on a knife edge again.
"If I had gone two down against so physical a player as Pete I
would have been in big trouble, I just had to try to get past
every hurdle, take it inch by inch, point by point and then move
on to the next one,
"I knew I had an opening in the draw with Ramy going out, but
seeing it and taking it are different things.
"World Open final, it's what you dream about lying in bed as a
ten-year-old, and for it to be against another Englishman too
... The pressure's all on Nick tomorrow, he's favourite,
I'll just try to do my best ..."
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