Pakistan’s Zaman faced Egyptian Omar Mossad in the first semi-final that went into five gruelling sets and earned a hard fought win to book his title-clash berth.

Zaman, seeded five in the tournament, started off well, allowing the Egyptian very few opportunities to go for the winners. However, after winning the first game 11-5, Zaman took his foot of the pedal and Mossad capitalised on the situation, winning back the next two games.

Midway into the match, Zaman appeared a little out of sorts, losing 4-11 and 7-11, and giving the Egyptian a 2-1 lead. But as the game intensified when Mossad went a little complacent and Zaman raced into a 9-4 lead in the fourth game. Mossad clawed it back to 7-10 again, but couldn’t manage to deliver at the key moments, giving Zaman the game, leading to a thrilling finish.

There were some lovely drop shots by both the players, and a couple of the kills left the crowd in raptures, drawing loud applause from even Saurav who was in the stands. Mossad found another gear, and within the blink of an eye, he found himself 8-2 up and with Zaman making some unforced errors, he must have let his concentration wander. Zaman’s incredible comeback began with a perfectly-placed slice, which left the Egyptian visibly impressed.

After clawing it back to 5-8, Zaman won a controversial decision and that was the turning point of the match. Mossad did make it 9-9 at one stage, but Zaman, displaying enormous energy won the game 11-9, and with it, the match.

With his 11-5 4-11 7-11 11-7 11-9 victory, Zaman moves into the final and will take on Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia. After the match, Zaman praised his opponent, but agreed that he had benefited from a loss in concentration by the Egyptian. “I wasn’t tired at all, and fought back really well. Mossad is a good player, but I have trained really hard this year, and am looking to get back to my previous best,” said Zaman, who was once ranked 11 in the world, but has fallen to number 35 after an injury prone last 12 months.

The other semi-final was between Hee and Egyptian Omar Abdel Aziz, and it was a marathon, lasting 70 minutes.

Hee, who has looked to be the most composed player in this tournament, won the first game 11-8 and it looked like turning into cakewalk for the world number 18. But if he was thinking of an early finish, he hadn’t contended with Aziz’s stomach for a fight.

Aziz stormed back to win the next two games and suddenly it was looking like Hee would have to pull out something special to get past the fiery Egyptian.

In a match which saw some long and energy-sapping rallies, the players produced some breathtaking squash with each waiting for the other to make a mistake on many an occasion.

Aziz moved around the court with consummate ease, and some of his winners drew applause from even his opponent. Aziz, who is quite the John McEnroe of squash, repeatedly questioned the referee’s calls, throwing his arms in the air and on one occasion even screaming at the referee.

He was eventually handed a warning for his behaviour, but the tall Egyptian has become an immensely popular figure with the crowd because of his on court antics. Hee won the fifth game 11-8, and closed out the match in the final game, allowing his opponent only four points.