Sheffield's Nick Matthew suffers power failure in Motor City Open final

The 35-year-old three-time world champions lost out to up-and-coming Egyptian Ali Farag, going down 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7 after 50 minutes.

For the world No 22 it completed a remarkable hat-trick of wins over higher ranked opponents, having already downed world No 1 Mohamed Elshorbagy in the quarter-finals before defeating world No10 Mathieu Castagnet in the last four.

After falling behind early on in the first game, Farag fought back from 6-2 down to take the opener 11-7, before Matthew responded in style to level the match. The underdog added the third game and then, eventually, held his composure to brush off three wasted match balls to clinch the title.

“He was on a roll,” said Sheffield-born Matthew, who will now turn his attention to winning a eighth British National title in Manchester next month.

“The crowd was feeding on him. The last few points was the first time I felt tired all week.

“Credit to him for getting me to that point.”

A delighted Farag added: “I’ve showed myself that I can compete with these guys and have the mental toughness to do it three days in a row.

“Hopefully this is going to be the beginning of a good future for me.”