Squash world number one Mohamed Elshorbagy and top seed Nour El Sherbini booked their places in the US Open squash finals after beating world number 19 James Willstrop and world number five Raneem El-Welily of Egypt, respectively, Friday. Top seed Elshorbagy defeated England's Willstrop 3-0 with three straight wins 11/7, 11/5, 13/11 in 56 minutes. The 25-year-old star, Elshorbagy, will make his second career US Open final appearance against world number four Nick Matthew of England — who passed Egypt's Karim Abdel Gawad in the semis — in the final Saturday. “Playing the first round I thought I was already going back home,” Elshorbagy said after the semifinal. “Next minute I'm into the US Open final. When you experience moments like this you feel very, very lucky. I'm so happy to be back into the final here and I'm really looking forward to the final now. “Today I had to play my best squash and really bring out my A-game. [Gawad has] been playing so well this week. How he got back to form after his injury shows the great champion he is, and it has been an inspiration to watch. “But I'm here to compete and challenge for titles. I hate losing and gave it everything today to get into the final," Elshorbagy said. Nour El Sherbini (R) moved into her second U.S. Open final (Photo: www.usopensquash.com) In the women's contest, Egyptian star El Sherbini defeated compatriot Raneem El-Welily 3-1 (8/11, 11/6, 11/8, 11/3) in 37 minutes to move into her second US Open final. The 20-year-old reigning world champion El Sherbini will meet world number six Camille Serme of France — who beat world number two Laura Massaro of England in the semis — in Saturday's final. “I'm feeling great definitely,” said El-Sherbini after the semifinal victory. “It was a very hard match from beginning to end. We just played in the final of Al-Ahram a week ago. She has been playing well the whole week and is on top form, so I didn't expect I was going to play like this. I'm very happy with my performance. “Raneem is not just a friend, she is my big sister, I learned so much from her; she is always giving me a lot of advice, and we are always together. So it's really hard to play against each other. It's that feeling of wanting to win, but not wanting her to lose. “I feel I'm getting better with every match, and I'm really happy to be back again in the US Open final. I hope that this time, I can make it," El-Sherbini said. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
