WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: EBS Asset Management Dayton Squash Open, Ohio, USA

Semi-finals:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [3] Graham Ryding (CAN) 15-7, 15-11, 15-9
Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt [Q] Rodney Durbach (RSA) 13-15, 15-13, 15-6, 15-3

Darwish & Abbas In All-Egyptian Dayton Final

The $40,000 EBS Asset Management Dayton Squash Open will climax in an all-Egyptian clash when Cairo colleagues Karim Darwish and Mohammed Abbas meet in the final at the Dayton Squash Center in Ohio, USA.

South African qualifier Rodney Durbach came out strongly against unseeded Mohammed Abbas and took the first game in a 21-minute battle.   The pair maintained the intensity of play in the second game, but the tide started to turn and Abbas drew level in 14 minutes.  The toll taken by Durbach's earlier round seeding upsets soon began to show as Abbas pushed through the third game in 11 minutes and finished off the last game in 7 minutes to claim a 13-15 15-13 15-6 15-3 win.

In the second semi-final, top seed Karim Darwish started strongly against third-seeded Canadian Graham Ryding.  Darwish applied persistent pressure to both the front and back of the court that never allowed Ryding to really get on track.  Despite a fight back by the Canadian in the second game, Darwish clinched his 15-7 15-11 15-9 victory in under 50 minutes.

Darwish, winner of the Apawamis Open in Rye last week, is now one step away from winning his second PSA tour title in five days.