New Zealand's world No 2 Carol Owens and Australia's world No 3 Rachael Grinham were to meet in the third Wispa world tour squash final in as many weeks, about 3am tomorrow (NZ time).
Both won through the semifinals of the Hurghada international championship in Egypt early today.
Grinham beat Dutch No1 and world No 5 Vanessa Atkinson 9-0 9-4 9-3 in 33 minutes for her 18th Wispa final of her career and fourth this year.
The second semifinal was a battle between former world champions -- 2000 champion Owens against her 1999 predecessor Cassie Jackman (England).
The match halted almost as soon as it started when, during the first rally, Jackman stopped to clutch her back, having been caught by Owens.
Jackman recently had a disc operation but she recovered after a few stretching exercises.
Both players were worked hard and there was little between them as the front wall was peppered with rasping drives and delicate drops, mixed with lobs.
Jackman saved a game ball at 6-8 with a straight overhead kill off her opponent's serve and followed with two winners to reach eight all.
But her recovery work was undone by a determined Owens.
The first game had lasted 22 minutes and as the second unfolded Owens forced Jackman into a series of errors.
Owens didn't allow her opponent to settle and cruised through 10-8 9-1 and 9-0.
"It was a tough first game, that's for sure," Owens said later. "Rachael grew up playing me and I would like to think I have the edge."
