England's top seed Peter Nicol failed in his bid to reach his third major final since July when he was beaten in four games by Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in a major upset in the semi-finals of the Dunlop Hungarian Open in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
Gregory, the world No11 from Aix-en-Provence, was in blistering form as he despatched Nicol 11-2 11-5 4-11 11-5 in 55 minutes to register his career-first win over the former world number one.
The victory marks the 22-year-old Frenchman's second successive appearance in the Budapest final - after also reaching it last year as fifth seed! It is also Gaultier's 14th time in a PSA Tour final.
The other semi-final was a more gruelling affair, with England's third seed James Willstrop surviving a 6-4 tie-break in the opening game to take a one-love lead, only for second seed Amr Shabana to pile on the pressure to take the next three games, and the match 10-11 11-6 11-8 11-4 in 64 minutes.
The in-form left-hander Shabana, a former world champion, is making his third PSA Tour final appearance in three weeks, after winning the Heliopolis Open and St Louis Open titles last month.
Semi-finals:
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [1] Peter Nicol (ENG) 11-2, 11-5, 4-11, 11-5 (55m)
[2] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [3] James Willstrop (ENG) 10-11 (4-6), 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 (64m)