Ashour stuns top seed Hee,enters squash final

In the title clash,in-form Ashour will take on third seed Adrian Grant of England,who in the second semi-final today got the better of a fighting second seed Mohammed Azlan Iskander of Malaysia 13-11,11-4,11-5,11-5. Iskander had won the same title here a few seasons back. The title showdown is slated for tomorrow.

The Hee-Ashour match saw the former expectedly winning the first two sets easily without facing much challenge. But the third set saw Ashour,who went into the semi-final with a hip injury,going all out as he drew level in the third set twice by 8-8 and then by 10-10 before he managed to win two big points to bag the set 12-10 and keep his hope alive.

Inspired with the success,Ashour went full blast and with Hee missing easy shots won the fourth set 11-2 to restore parity.

In the decider,both started evenly and earned points alternately to draw level at 6-6 and 8-8,after which the Egyptian opened up a two-point lead of 10-8. But the never-say-die Malaysian kept his cool and brought a couple of fine shots to restore parity again. Ashour rose to the occasion to force a beautiful placing and followed it up with a fine shot to clinch the issue in his favour by 12-10.

In the other semi-final,Adrian started on a lukewarm note and took some time to get back his rhythm during which Iskander bagged the first set 13-11 after a tough fight.

Grant started with renewed vigour in the second set to dominate the proceedings with a fine all-round performance and bagged the next three sets 11-4,11-5 and 11-5 to earn his slot in the final.