FRIDAY: SEMI-FINALS SPECTACULAR

Semi-finals, Friday:

Note to all spectators: please be seated by 5.45pm.

Tonight is semi-final night and what a fabulous feast of squash lies ahead of us. We are honoured to have the four best players in the world in the semi-finals of the North American Open and they are here on court at the Westwood Club in Richmond this evening

Each match is a major battle between the two squash super powers, Egypt and England

6pm: (4) Amr Shabana (Egypt) v (1) Nick Matthew (England)

Shabana, aged 31, has won the World Open four times. Matthew, 30, is the reigning Richmond champion, the World Open champion and world No.1.

Both players have reached 39 Tour finals and both are very keen to make it 40.

Head to Head is 8 wins each.

These two have already met twice this year, Shabana winning in the PSA World Series Finals in London and Matthew winning in the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions .... in 88 minutes!

7pm: (3) James Willstrop (England) v (2) Ramy Ashour (Egypt)

Head to Head 10-4 to Ramy. They have met in the Tournament of Champions in each of the last four years and every match was an epic battle.

We expect the same this evening.

What a fabulous evening we have in prospect.

For squash lovers, it doesn't get any better than this.