Squash: Despair for Yorkshire duo

Willstrop, from Leeds, went into the match on the back of a marathon 101-minute defeat of fourth seed Gregory Gaultier on Sunday.

But the No 5 seed, coached by his father Malcolm in Pontefract, couldn't prevent Egyptian Ashour from winning 11-7 3-11 11-3 11-5 in 40 minutes.

"He's got my number at the minute," admitted Willstrop afterwards .

"It's such a letdown when you can't produce. It was too physical - he was just too good.

"I wasn't physically good enough today - I don't know why. I expected to come out stronger. I gave it everything I could."

A jubilant Ashour, who clinched his 17th PSA Tour title, added: "I think it was a really good match, but I think we were both tired - James had a very long game yesterday for more than 100 minutes.

"James is a great player - I played him in Hong Kong last month, but this was tougher. He has a special kind of game - a mixture of Egyptian and English.

"It's always great to play him."

JENNY DUNCALF suffered a shock defeat in the quarter-finals of the World Open in Egypt when she was defeated by France's Camille Serme on Monday.

The world No 2, from Harrogate, was expected to book another showdown with dominant world No 1 Nicol David in tomorrow's final, but went down 8-11 11-7 7-11 11-2 11-5 after a gruelling contest.

The 21-year-old ninth seed, from Creteuil, will now meet Omneya Abdel Kawy, the fourth seeded Egyptian who saw off Australia's Kasey Brown 11-8 14-12 6-11 11-5.