LAHORE - Egypt’s Farida Mohamed will take on France’s Melisaa Alves in the final of the Faletti’s International Women’s Squash Championship 2018 to be played here today (Wednesday).

In the first semifinal of women’s event, Farida Mohamed proved too hot for Pakistan’s Moqaddas Ashraf as she outclassed the local girl by 3-0 in just 16 minutes. Farida started well against spirited Moqaddas and after facing some resistance in the first game, she it 11/6. After that, the Egyptian took no time to outpace Moqaddas in the second and third games as she won them by 11/3 and 11/2 respectively to book berth in the final.

The second semifinal saw France’s Melissa Alves defeating Menna Nasser of Egypt by 3-1 in an epic encounter of 32 minutes. The French player put in superb performance in the first game, winning it by 11/3. The Egyptian bounced back in style in the second game and took it 11/4. The French player once again fought well back and overpowered her opponent by 11/5 in the third game.

The four game proved to be a see-saw battle as both the players fought till the end and levelled the score 11-all. Both were not ready to allow the other to play freely and get the crucial points to win the game, but the superb techniques, pace, stamina of France player helped her put the Egyptian under pressure and make the fourth game decisive one by winning it 13/11, thus registered an impressive victory and also earned spot in the final. Meanwhile in the men’s quarter-final matches played at four-wall glass court at Faletti’s Hotel, fourth seed Tayyab Aslam of Pakistan tamed spirited Shehab Essam of Egypt by 3-2 in 47 minutes as the score was 9/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/6, 11/9. Top seed Ivan Yuen of Malaysia took just 14 minutes to topple local player Farhan Mehboob by 2-0 with the score of 11/4, 11/2, retired.

The third quarterfinal saw third seed Auguste Dussourd of France defeating sixth seed Asim Khan of Pakistan 3-2 after a tough battle. Both the players displayed quality squash and techniques and gave each other tough time before the French players winning the marathon encounter of 64 minutes by 15/13, 8/11, 5/11, 11/4, 11/3. In the fourth and last quarterfinal, second seed Mazan Gamal of Egypt beat eighth seed Ammar Altamimi of Kuwait by 3-0 with the score of 11/7, 11/5, 11/7.