Top Seeds Elshorbagy & Farag To Contest St George's Final

Eight days after contesting the US Open final, Egyptian duo Mohamed Elshorbagy and Ali Farag will again lock horns in the climax of the 2017 Channel VAS Championships at St George's Hill after prevailing in the semi-finals of the PSA M100 event in Weybridge.

Both players are in red-hot form and Elshorbagy, who lost out to Farag in Philadelphia, earned his place in the showpiece finale courtesy of a 3/0 victory over Indian qualifier Saurav Ghosal, which saw both players compete in a high-quality affair.

Ghosal chased and harried the Egyptian at every turn but Elshorbagy's relentless pace eventually caught up with the world No.26 from Kolkata as the top-seeded Egyptian closed out the match 13-11, 11-8, 11-9.

The win takes world No.3 Elshorbagy into his fourth successive PSA World Tour final.

"It's funny because he came through qualifying and I was helping him through his second match of qualifying because we're really good friends," said Elshorbagy.

"He's very good for the game and he was playing high-quality squash from the first point to the last. I just kept pushing and I'm glad it went my way in the end.

"I'm coming back tomorrow to play a great match and I hope the crowd enjoys it."

Farag also earned his place in a third successive final this season after he repelled a spirited fightback from Diego Elias, the world No.15 from Peru.

Farag captured his maiden World Series title last week in Philadelphia to add to his runner-up spot at the China Open in September and his fine form showed no signs of abating as he built up a two-game lead, despite needing treatment mid-way through the opening game after being caught on the nose by the Peruvian's racket.

A determined Elias had the crowd behind him though and he launched a superb fightback, taking the third and fourth games to draw level. But Farag's game-management skills came to the fore as the match crept towards its conclusion, with the 25-year-old taking momentum away from Elias with some measured squash and he dropped just three points to bring an end to a thrilling 85-minute encounter.

"It's thanks to people like Mohamed [fellow Egyptian Abouelghar] that I won," admitted Farag, the number two seed.

"He told me that I had the character, I had to keep pushing and that I wasn't world No.5 for nothing. I had to give it a big push, thankfully I did and it worked. If I'd lost, I would have had no regrets, I'm just happy to be through."