Amr Shabana of Egypt and England?s Peter Nicol will battle it out for the right to be called Virtual Spectator Bermuda Masters champion this evening after both came through tough semi-final clashes at BHS last night.

The world number one from Cairo saw off the challenge of former world champion Thierry Lincou of France in four games, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9, while Nicol comfortably beat another Frenchman, Gregory Gaultier, in straight games 11-5, 11-8, 11-5.

Clearly labouring after his epic battle with England?s James Willstrop the previous day, Shabana looked jaded in the first game against Lincou, making six costly unforced errors and was generally off the pace.

But whatever was said to ?the prince of Cairo? in between games clearly did the trick because he emerged from the break a new man ? whipping the ball adroitly into the back corners and looking considerably sharper on the volley.

Lincou tried to make life difficult for his supremely gifted opponent by getting a lot of balls back, but Shabana was not to be denied and he surged to a two games to one lead.

At 10-7 up in the fourth, the Egyptian looked like he was going to be the comfortable winner. But Lincou doggedly fought back, taking the score to 10-9, before the match came to a bizarre and controversial conclusion.

After a punishingly long rally on match point, Lincou stretched for a ball on the backhand side and asked for a let ? but appeared to have had the appeal rejected by the referee, with the match then awarded to Shabana.

But after opening the court door to make his case for a let, the referee suddenly reversed his decision ? with the game having to resume as a result.

In the very next rally, Lincou again stretched for a ball tight to the wall on the left hand side and was not given a let when he collided with Shabana ? a decision which prompted a scream of anguish from the distraught Frenchman, who left the court despondently and then threw his racquet angrily on the ground.

?It was not a nice ending but I?m so glad to be in the final,? said the victor afterwards. ?Thierry is always very tough to beat ? he is such a perfectionist, prepares very well and never gives games away. But I felt I played much better after I started very slowly and I feel good going into the final.? Meanwhile, Nicol was not really pushed in his match with Gaultier.

Before the tournament, few would have bet on the Englishman showing much interest in the Masters after his exhausting Commonwealth Games heroics.

But against David Palmer on Thursday night and again against Gaultier, Nicol look fresh and relaxed while playing some quite superlative squash which his adversaries could do little to counteract.

Gaultier was a little unlucky with some marginal refereeing decisions in the hard-fought second game. But he never mentally recovered from those perceived injustices until he was 9-1 down in the third and it was too late to launch a convincing comeback.

?When I first got to Bermuda my heart wasn?t really in it,? admitted Nicol afterwards. ?But after my second round match against (Karim) Darwish, I started to feel better about myself and I decided to make a go of it. Physically I feel fine, but mentally and emotionally I?m spent. To be honest I?m just looking forward to getting tomorrow out of the way and then finally having two or three weeks off.?