Ashour enjoys his finest moment and Massaro her dream

The hopes of Sheffield’s Nick Matthew and Pontefract’s James Willstrop were frustratingly ended at the semi-final stages on Saturday, while Harrogate’s Jenny Duncalf had seen her hopes in the women’s draw extinguished at the last-eight stage on Friday afternoon.

Ultimately, in the men’s draw, it went to form with Egypt’s extraordinarily talented Ramy Ashour extending his unbeaten PSA Tour run to 41 games with a 7-11 11-4 11-7 11-8 victory over fourth seed Gregory Gaultier, from France.

It was the Frenchman who started the brighter of the two at the KC Stadium in Hull, before the world No 1 began to exert control for the first Egyptian win at the British Open since 1966.

“There’s a famous quote: the game is just a game – it’s what you play for that matters,” said a delighted Ashour afterwards.

“I’ve been preparing for eight weeks for this tournament – but I’ve had lots of hard times over the last two weeks, so I’m really proud of myself for what I’ve achieved.

“Winning this prestigious title is one of the happiest moments of my life, if not the happiest.”

Ashour had ended the dreams of Willstrop for another year a day earlier, opening their last-four battle in ferocious style to take the first game 11-2 in under 10 minutes.

The 29-year-old Yorkshireman fought back strongly in the subsequent two games but, after failing to take advantage of three game balls in the third, finally succumbed 11-2 11-9 13-11.

Gaultier, the world No 3, also started slowly in his semi-final against Matthew, the 32-year-old Yorkshireman racing into an 8-1 lead.

Despite a comeback from his French opponent, Matthew held on to take the first game 11-9.

Thereafter, however, Matthew’s hopes of a third straight title foundered, with Gaultier maintaining the momentum he had built up towards the end of the opening game, eventually winning 9-11 11-7 11-3 11-6.

While the men’s event stayed true to the form book, there was an upset in yesterday’s women’s final when Cheshire’s Laura Massaro denied world 
No 1 Nicol David a fifth British title with a stunning 11-4 3-11 
12-10 11-7 triumph – signalling the first homegrown winner of the prestigious event since Lisa Opie back in 1991.

“The British Open is the first tournament I watched growing up and I will always remember my coach when I first turned full time saying, ‘one day you will be sitting in the final’. I thought, ‘yeah right’,” said Massaro.

“So it is absolutely amazing that it came true. Being the first Briton to win it in a few years makes it even more special.”