Top Seeds Willstrop and Meguid to Contest Wimbledon Open Final

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Former World No.1 James Willstrop and Egypt’s Omar Abdel Meguid, seeds one and two, respectively, will go head-to-head in the final of the Wimbledon Club Squash Squared Open, PSA M25 tournament after securing semi-final victories in the inaugural event.

Willstrop went up against fellow Englishman Declan James in his last four encounter, with the latter having endured a gladiatorial five-game contest with George Parker in the previous round.

The match was a perfect representation of both Willstrop and James’s strengths with accurate lobs, precise drops and excellent lengths being hit regularly in front of a captivated crowd. Yorkshireman Willstrop took the opening game by the narrowest of margins and kept James at arm’s length in the second and third to record an 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 triumph and seal a place in his first PSA World Tour final in 18 months.

“I know a lot about Declan,” Willstrop told SquashSite.

“He is part of the group of up-and-coming players we train with for the England squad and they’re really tough to play. I hadn’t played in that club atmosphere for a while and I must say that it was quite an experience which I have thoroughly enjoyed. We have the British Open just around the corner, which is the most important tournament of the year after the World Championship, so it’s good to get a bit of match sharpness.

“I’m a bit light on match play generally, so it’s good that I was able to play an event such as this one. Tomorrow, I know that Omar and myself will try our best to play a good match. He is a very talented player and very hard to beat but I will try to take that inaugural title.”

Meanwhile, Meguid went up against World No.122 Joshua Masters in his semi-final fixture, with Masters impressing throughout the event as he battled through from qualifying to reach the last four. After going a game down, Masters then levelled proceedings with a display that belied his world ranking but he was ultimately unable to overcome Meguid, who rallied to take the next two games without reply and set up a final showdown with Willstrop.

Results – Semi-Final: Wimbledon Club Squash Squared Open 2016
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [3] Declan James (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 (40m)
[2] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [Q] Joshua Masters (ENG) 3-1: 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 (58m)

Draw – Final
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) v [2] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY)