LAHORE, Pakistan, 21 December 2003 — World No. 4 Thierry Lincou of France and Egypt’s Amr Shabana reached the final of the World Open squash championship after comfortable wins in the semifinals here yesterday.
The 27-year-old Lincou, who will also jump to world No. 1 in January after this win, crushed Australian Joseph Kneipp 15-12, 15-10, 15-7 in just 47 minutes while Shabana won in four games against countryman Karim Darwish.
“I don’t know about being the new world No. 1 but my focus now is to win the world title which is the dream of every squash player,” said Lincou, who has dropped just one game since ousting Pakistan’s Shahid Zaman in the first match.
He takes over as world number one from England’s Peter Nicol who was defeated in the second round here by Italian Davide Bianchetti.
“For me, the world title is more important and I will have to play as I have done to beat Shabana in the final,” said Lincou, the first ever French player in the World Open final.
Kneipp, who upset world No. 2 Scotsman John White in the third round and Lee Beachill of England in the quarterfinals, had no answer to the fast movement of the Frenchman, who played from the middle of the court to perfection.
In the first semifinal, Cairo’s 24-year-old Shabana, who beat defending champion David Palmer of Australia in the third round and another Australian, No. 5 Anthony Ricketts, in the quarterfinals, won 15-11, 11-15, 15-8, 15-14 in 57 minutes.
Shabana becomes only the second Egyptian behind Ahmed Brada to feature in a World Open final. Brada lost to Nicol in the 1999 final in Cairo.
The 25th World Open lost its top three seeds — No. 1 Nicol, No. 2 White and number three Palmer — before the first round, which had never happened in the history of the event.
Shabana, who dedicated his win to his sister’s new baby, displayed his speciality of drop shots which wrong foots his opponents. Darwish, two places higher in the seedings and a former world junior champion, admitted his opponent was superior.
Darwish led in the first game until his two unforced mistakes allowed Shabana to surge ahead 13-11 and then to pocket the game at 15-11.
