Farkas Foils No.2 Seed To Become Hungary's First Squash World Games Finalist

Farkas Balazs became Hungary's first ever squash finalist at The World Games after the world No. 47 upset No.2 seed Dimitri Steinmann to reach the final in Chengdu.

Farkas will take on French defending champion Victor Crouin for the title, while the women's final will pit Japan's Satomi Watanabe - also her country's first ever representative in the final - against France's Marie Stephan.

Despite going into the match ranked some 31 places below Steinmann, form was on Farkas' side, with the Hungarian defeating Steinmann in all three of their previous encounters.

Sure enough, Farkas had the upper hand for almost all of the Chengdu clash. After weathering an early Steinmann storm, the mercurial left-hander outclassed his opponent throughout the 32-minute encounter, moving 2/0 up after 23 minutes.

The anticipated fightback from Steinmann, who had looked increasingly frustrated at game two wore on, failed to materialise in game three, with Farkas scoring 11 points without interruption as he moved from 0-1 down to 11-1 up to complete the rout.

After the match, Farkas - who is yet to drop a game during the championships - said: "Before the match, I didn't expect that! Every game, when I'm playing, I just try to enjoy every moment I'm spending here and try to focus on the tactic and the right game plan. From the beginning, it's really been working and I like the crowd, the atmosphere, the country, everything!"

Farkas wasn't the only player to upset the odds today, with France's Marie Stephan fighting back from two games down to beat women's No.2 seed Tomato Ho of Hong Kong.

Ho started well, following up an 11-9 win in game one with a dominant 11-1 in game two before Stephan pulled game three back 11-7.

The contest looked close to over when Ho worked her way to a 7-3 lead in game four, only for Stephan to come back from the brink, scoring eight consecutive points as Ho's nerves frayed to take the match into a fifth game.

Stephan looked by far the more confident player in game five, taking advantage of Ho errors to earn three match balls at 10-7.

After Ho had saved the first two, Stephan switched tactics, firing in an all-or nothing winner straight to return Ho's serve.

To the roars of the France bench and Stephan herself, her shot was near-perfect, dying at the front to bring the gripping contest to an end.

"I don't think I believe it yet!" Stephan said afterwards. "I was in the zone and at 0/2 down my coach said 'It's not over, your match is just starting now!'. When I was down in game four, I had the support of the whole French team and a lot of people watching back home. I'm super excited - I think you could tell!"

Stephan will take on top seed Satomi Watanabe in the final, with the world No.6 becoming the first player from Japan to reach the championship match after a dominant 3/0 win over Spain's Marta Dominguez.

The other player through to the final is defending men's champion Victor Crouin, who came from behind twice in an enthralling 83-minute five-gamer with 2022 bronze medal winner Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia.

The pair met in the semi-finals at the last edition of the event, with Crouin recording a 3/1 victory to reach the final.

This time, Rodriguez struck first, clinching a hugely competitive and entertaining opening game 12-10 to take the lead.

The pair then traded periods of dominance, with Crouin levelling with an 11-6 win only for Rodriguez to hit back 11-5 to reclaim the lead, before Crouin surged back again 11-3 in game four.

In the deciding game, it was Rodriguez who initially looked more likely to make the breakthrough, with the 39-year-old - playing his fourth and final edition of The World Games - drawing errors from Crouin to take a 7-3 lead and go within four points of a place in the final.

The Frenchman kept calm, however, wrestling control from Rodriguez to as he surged to the finish with five unanswered points before eventually claiming an 11-8 victory.

Afterwards, the top seed reflected on the role of The World Games in his own career, explaining that the win over Rodriguez last time out was the catalyst to his rise into the top eight of the World Rankings.