Philadelphia 76ers forward Mike Scott said he should have walked away from the fight with Eagles fans outside Lincoln Financial Field on Sept. 8 but he doesn't feel sympathy for the fans that were involved in the fight.

Scott, who met with reporters at the team's media day, was asked about the scuffle, which happened before the Eagles' Week 1 game against the Washington Redskins, at the top of his session.

On my way @4thandJawn pic.twitter.com/Wf6hV0aZeO

— Mike Scott (@mikescott) September 8, 2019

"Looking back on it, I always play devil's advocate with myself. I definitely should have walked away before it got to that point. I'm the professional, got to be the bigger person, walk away. Once you keep going ... he was popping hella s---. He was going off. I don't know, maybe it was the microphone ... once you take it to the next level and you're throwing other slurs in there, now I got to see if you match that energy. That's what happened," he said.

Scott, who is from southern Virginia, played in college basketball for Virginia and wore a Redskins jersey to the game, acknowledged he has to be the bigger person, but, "as far as sympathy for them, I don't feel any for the individuals."

He said he doesn't have animosity toward all Eagles fans.

"Those guys don't represent everyone. I'm not stupid, that doesn't represent everyone. I still had a ball. Still had fun. Still took pictures with fans, throwing balls in the parking lot and enjoyed the game," he said.

He joked Monday that when the Redskins jumped out to a 20-7 lead in the game, he thought he might had to fight the whole stadium.

"You know, the Redskins go up 20-7, and I'm looking around like s---, I'm like, 'C'mon Eagles, help me out now. Can't fight the whole stadium.' (The Redskins) win that game, s---. (Eagles fans) would have been waiting for me outside the stadium with pitchforks," he said. "I still had fun. You gotta let social media have fun with it. Definitely doesn't look good on my behalf, you know embarrassing the organization and my family, but once you take it past that point. You know, god damn, what are you going to do."

The Eagles rallied to defeat the Redskins 32-27.

It's time for our first fall tradition: picking the six most intriguing players of the season. As usual, we (mostly) steer clear of superstars and rookies.

Jonathan Isaac, Orlando Magic

Orlando's offseason plan for Isaac led him to a startling discovery.

"I did not know I could eat this much," Isaac says. "My mind is blown. Eating is almost not enjoyable anymore." Isaac says he has eaten five or six "real meals" every day to add heft to his string-bean frame -- without compromising the quickness and switchability that hold All-Defense promise.

The Magic estimate Isaac has put on 15 to 20 pounds. That would mitigate his only major vulnerability on defense: brutes burrowing into Isaac's chest, dislodging him, and lofting layups as he stumbles backward. Against some teams, the Magic toggled assignments so Aaron Gordon would defend behemoth power forwards -- leaving Isaac to trail wings.

Jeff Van Gundy often had Isaac defend wings during practices with the USA Select team; during that camp, Isaac says he texted Pat Delany, an Orlando assistant, requesting Delany prepare film of players who were good at scampering around with wings. "I really don't know how to read guys coming off screens," Isaac says.

Isaac should become a stopper against every position. His combination of length and speed is outrageous. He reads the game well. What stands out already is an absence of mistakes -- unusual for a player so young.

The other side will determine Isaac's ceiling (All-Star or solid starter?) and whether the Magic's ultra-big lineups can squeeze enough points for Orlando to chase home-court advantage in the first round.

Isaac is never going to be a high-volume screen-setter alongside Gordon and Nikola Vucevic. He lives off the ball. Isaac shot 38 percent from deep after the All-Star break last season (kindly ignore his 4-of-20 mark in the first round of the playoffs against Toronto!), and carrying that over is one of Orlando's most important swing factors.

Opponents are going to ignore Isaac, clogging up everything else, until he proves he can punish them. Forcing defenders to guard him more closely would unlock a surprisingly nifty pump-and-go game. Isaac can handle lefty and righty, and see the next pass:

(He still settles for too many pull-up 2-pointers.)

Isaac is only so useful loitering around the arc. He has good timing as a cutter, but the Magic rarely found him; Isaac would often slip open toward the rim, raise his arms, and continue with polite dejection to the other side. Cutting also slides Isaac into offensive rebounding position, and the Magic -- 22nd in both scoring efficiency and offensive rebounding rate -- could use extra juice there:

He would be a threat hanging in the dunker spot. He can dive to the rim when he and Vucevic set staggered screens:

Opponents will switch, wagering Isaac can't hurt little guys in the post. Isaac averaged just 0.54 points per possession on post-ups, second worst among 166 players who logged at least 25 such plays last season, per Second Spectrum. Bulking up should help. The apex version of Isaac should dust traditional power forwards and score over wings -- denying opponents the luxury of tailoring frontcourt matchups to stop Gordon.

"I think there will be more post-ups," Isaac says. He has dipped his toe into bringing the ball up and running a two-man game with Vucevic. He flashes finesse that catches you off-guard, with loping Euro-steps and soft floaters.

"I feel like I can do everything," he says.

Isaac exists in a state of tension with many of Steve Clifford's central tenets. Clifford's teams have historically punted on working the offensive glass to get back on defense. Isaac should be a weapon in transition, but Clifford's teams are cautious there; defensive rebounding comes first. "I'd like to get more leak-outs, but we don't do that much," Isaac says. Random cuts muck up spacing.

Tension is healthy. The Magic need a dose of wildness. They need methods of scrounging points beyond their intricate half-court system. By not precisely fitting in, Isaac can round out the Magic.

It's hard to overstate how much the Magic love Isaac. They have batted away any Isaac trade inquiries, sources say. He has quickly become a standard-bearer of the culture president Jeff Weltman and GM John Hammond want to nurture.

Isaac's younger brother, Jeremiah, 11, is almost part of the team. He is always around the facility, and makes regular rotation suggestions to Clifford -- not always in favor of his brother, Clifford says. Weltman even let Jeremiah call in Orlando's picks to the league office during the draft. He practiced pronouncing Chuma Okeke's name all day, Isaac says.

Orlando is betting on Isaac's work ethic. Most players return home after doing local media the day after being drafted. The Magic expected Isaac to do the same in 2017. Instead, he asked whether coaches were around that weekend; he wanted to start work.

That story has stuck with higher-ups. They hope the payoff is coming.

Mitchell Robinson, New York Knicks

Robinson burst onto the scene as the rare big man with the fast-twitch explosiveness to regularly reject jumpers -- a potential second-round steal for the Scott Perry/Steve Mills regime. He obliterated 22 3-pointers, five more than any other player, in just 1,360 minutes. There are maybe two living humans who can do some of the things Robinson does on defense.

He also fouled the bejesus out of everyone. Clever ball-handlers baited him with eyebrow fakes and give-and-go trickery:

New York's coaches have hammered in a simple message: Be the second jumper. Don't leave your feet until you see the other guy get air.

"I hear that," Robinson says. "But with some guys -- Steph Curry, James Harden -- you can't wait."

Jumping too late can be a problem around the rim. Robinson sometimes leaves the glass naked hunting no-chance-in-hell blocks.

Robinson cut his foul rate toward the end of the season, but it was still too high -- and not just the result of hyper block-chasing. Robinson needs to hone his fundamentals. He defends the pick-and-roll with his hands at his sides, exposing passing lanes.

"That can be fatigue," he says. "When you're tired, you drop your arms." He reaches and hand-checks. He tries to blow up pick-and-rolls by shoving the screener -- a gambit he says he learned from Amar'e Stoudemire -- but refs caught on. "I can't get away with it every time," he says.

He is not as good as he should be covering both ball handler and roller at once. He sometimes takes poor angles. His footwork can be mechanical:

Robinson has shown progress, but it may take longer than optimists expect.

On offense, he is a raw rim-runner thirsty for lobs. (You can sometimes catch Robinson leaping for a lob when no one has thrown one.) He seldom sets actual screens, preferring to slip early into the lane. He sometimes rolls full speed with his head down instead of starting and stopping to make himself a target. New York seemed fine with most of that, and Robinson sucks in a ton of attention -- creating open looks for shooters.

Laying the wood now and then would be nice, though. Teams learned Robinson's tendencies, and started moonwalking in sync with him:

They also switched some, daring Robinson to beat them on the block. He couldn't. The Knicks scored just 0.79 points per possession on any trip featuring a Robinson post-up -- third worst among all players, per Second Spectrum tracking.

He fared well enough when he played amid decent shooting. The Knicks compromised that by signing Julius Randle, Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis and Marcus Morris. Robinson will rim-run into walls.

Randle and Robinson can run some big-big pick-and-rolls. Randle will bulldoze one-on-one, draw help, then drop the ball to Robinson for dunks. When he's not involved in the pick-and-roll, Robinson is dangerous lurking along the baseline; Dennis Smith Jr. likes finding him there:

The Portis-Robinson pairing intrigues; Portis shot 39 percent from deep last season.

Robinson anticipated the need to evolve. "I'm going to shoot midrangers, maybe a couple of 3s," he says. He has started practicing basic playmaking from the elbows, though he concedes his jumper has been a higher priority. It is unclear what Robinson might do if opponents trap New York's point guards on the pick-and-roll, and force them to hit Robinson far from the rim. He averaged about half an assist per game.

But Robinson represents a reason for hope after New York's free agency whiff.

Russell Westbrook, Houston Rockets

It might be the most interesting question going into this season: What is Westbrook going to do when James Harden has the ball?

He has to shoot better, for one. He can't cut and screen and dart inside for offensive rebounds and do all the sexy-nerdy basketball things on every possession. The game doesn't flow that way for most stars. Westbrook has hit about 35 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s in some prior seasons; he could bounce back to that kind of acceptable, non-grisly number on the looks Harden will feed him.

But Westbrook has to do a lot more of that sexy-nerdy stuff for this bizarro partnership to take Houston as far as the Harden-Chris Paul version got them in 2018. Westbrook has done almost none of that. He is the battering-ram-on-repeat who drove stars out of Oklahoma City. Playing with Harden -- a superior on-ball scorer in every sense -- provides a chance for Westbrook to rewrite the narrative of his career.

He'll still have the ball a lot, of course. Westbrook can reanimate a zombified transition game and thrive running spread pick-and-roll in the sort of spacing Oklahoma City rarely gave him. Harden has to play off the ball more, too.

But Westbrook has never been his team's secondary ball handler. If he spends his off-ball time chilling behind the arc, hands on knees, the Rockets have little chance to come out of the Western Conference.

Jerami Grant, Denver Nuggets

Grant spent five seasons in two strange places: the Process Loss Factory in Philadelphia, and the Westbrook show in Oklahoma City. He adapted to each, but you always got the sense he could grow into a different sort of player -- the player he should be, not the one teams tried to manufacture -- in the right environment.

The Nuggets are betting they have that environment because they have Nikola Jokic, the greatest passing center in modern NBA history. They spent a year-plus scouring the league for a power forward of the future -- someone Jokic's age, who fit Jokic's game, says Tim Connelly, Denver's president of basketball operations. They zeroed in on Grant and one other player they could not obtain. If they are right, and some actualized version of Grant is waiting to emerge, the Nuggets should be really good for a long time.

Connelly called Grant after finalizing the trade and told him: We want this to be home. "That made me feel real comfortable," Grant says.

Jokic texted Grant a welcome message from overseas. Grant, a film buff, began watching clips of Jokic's passing. He was giddy. Grant is a cagey, explosive cutter, but the Thunder mostly had him stand around the perimeter. The paint belonged to Steven Adams.

Grant survived. He shot 39 percent from deep. When slower defenders contested his shot, he could pump-and-go by them.

Most of Grant's individual work has centered on fixing that jumper. In Philadelphia, he would ask shooting coach John Townshend to meet him at the practice facility for 6 a.m. workouts, both recall.

The Sixers also tried to break Grant's habit of dunking everything. "We are talking violent dunks in every drill," says Billy Lange, a longtime Sixers assistant who is now head coach at St. Joseph's University. "You could almost feel them across the whole facility." Lange pulled Grant aside during one pregame warm-up and asked if he knew what peanut brittle felt like. "Hard," Grant replied. "What happens if you drop it to the ground?" Lange asked. "It shatters," Lange told him. "That is your foot. Every time you dunk, you are hurting your foot a little."

"I think about that to this day," Grant says.

Grant tried to keep Philly's locker room afloat amid historic losing. "We have to take our craft more seriously," he would remind young players, Lange says. The losing took its toll in Grant's second season, when Philly went 10-72. Grant grew sullen. He drifted away from the practice facility that summer.

When the Sixers traded Grant to Oklahoma City early the next season, coaches felt a combination of sadness and relief that he might win, they say now.

"We went through all the s--- we went through, and he came out unscathed on the other side," says Sixers coach Brett Brown.

Grant became a full-time starter and signed a three-year, $29 million extension with a player option for next season -- a deal Grant has called "a bargain" in conversations with confidants, he and others say.

But Grant as a stretch power forward in Westbrook's offense was a square peg/round hole contortion. Defenders strayed from Grant even as his percentage ticked up, laying in wait for his drives:

Grant scored only 0.89 points per possession on drives, one of the worst marks in the league, per Second Spectrum data. He can make functional passes in space, but misses the advanced reads that really puncture defenses. Look at Paul George on the right wing begging Grant to hit Nerlens Noel under the basket:

His first step isn't as quick as you'd think -- occasional indecision doesn't help -- and Grant can get caught in the air with no place to go:

In Denver, Grant can bob and weave while Jokic surveys from the elbow. He can screen for Jamal Murray as Jokic spaces the floor as an outlet -- waiting to touch a pass to Grant flying down the lane. He can set improvised picks for Jokic in semi-transition. Playing with better shooters makes everything easier. Driving corridors widen. Passes lanes stay clearer, longer.

On defense, Grant can switch across every position, cover Jokic's weaknesses, and protect the rim. Any team built around Murray and Jokic needs strong defenders at the other three positions.

It will be interesting to see how Mike Malone juggles minutes. Paul Millsap is the deserved starter. Grant can work as a backup center, but Mason Plumlee -- that's Team USA stalwart Mason Plumlee, mind you! -- killed it in that role last season. Both Juancho Hernangomez and Michael Porter Jr. can play some small-ball power forward. We may even see Grant, Millsap and Jokic together when Denver faces LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard -- with Grant guarding those alpha scorers.

"I'm excited to see how he fits," Lange says. "If he cuts with the same violence he dunks with, he's gonna get a lot of easy baskets."

JaMychal Green, LA Clippers

For a relative unknown, Green could play a pivotal role in the title chase. The Clippers are thin in traditional big men, and have none with Green's ability to shapeshift between lineup types. He may start at power forward, play center after Montrezl Harrell's first stint each half, and log heavy minutes alongside Harrell.

Green was dejected when the Clippers acquired him from Memphis last season; he thought LA was tanking after dealing Tobias Harris and he would not get much playing time, he says. He sulked. (Green is quiet by nature. Chatty Memphis veterans took to him because he never spoke, higher-ups there recall.) Doc Rivers and Sam Cassell gave him pep talks, he says.

Two months later, he was starting as a floor-stretching center against Golden State in the playoffs. Then, he dangled for two weeks in free agency. He passed on richer offers from several teams, including playoff mainstays, according to Green and sources at those teams. The Clippers had shown faith in him. Green is loyal. He has stuck with his agent, Michael Hodges, since the start of his career, even when bigger fish tried to poach him. (When those agents call, Green secretly lets Hodges listen in on their pitches, he and Hodges say.)

Kawhi Leonard texted Green after joining the Clippers and urged him to re-sign, promising "this sacrifice will pay off," Green says.

Winning will get him paid down the line, Green says. Green has played the long game before. He was ready to give up on the NBA after the Spurs cut him just before the 2014-15 season. He had an overseas offer for about $500,000. Hodges pushed him to turn it down and give the D-League one more shot -- to stay closer to his NBA dream. Green reluctantly agreed. He made the D-League All-Star game, and the Grizzlies signed him in February 2015.

In Memphis last season, it appeared Green had lost a step. He was hesitant jacking from deep, and Green doesn't have much of a role without a reliable 3-pointer. He bumped up his attempts in LA, and coaches want even more.

He looked comfortable again in LA switching onto smaller players -- one good performance hounding Luka Doncic stood out to coaches -- and we may see more of that. He has years of experience guarding Anthony Davis. He may play a lot of crunch-time defensive possessions.

If Green hits -- if he can spread the floor for Harrell and Ivica Zubac, defend multiple positions, and hold his own on the glass in small-ball lineups -- the Clippers become a different team: deeper, more versatile. If he sputters, they will search out help.

Luke Kennard, Detroit Pistons

There may not be a team that needs a role player to pop as badly as the Pistons need Kennard to establish himself as an above-average wing. That won't happen on defense. Detroit hides Kennard on the least threatening opposing players. His off-ball rotations can be scattershot. He is the rare player -- joining fellow Duke sniper JJ Redick -- with a listed wingspan shorter than his height.

The jump has to come on the other end, where Kennard showed major progress as a herky-jerky pick-and-roll maestro late last season and in the playoffs. "I didn't know he was this good with the ball," says Detroit coach Dwane Casey.

Kennard doesn't get it as much sharing the floor with Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson -- one reason Casey says he may bring him off the bench again. Kennard ran just seven pick-and-rolls per 100 possessions with Griffin on the floor, per Second Spectrum. That number tripled to 22 without Griffin.

He has not shown the ability to work as a turbocharged, roving catch-and-shoot menace like Redick, Kyle Korver and Wayne Ellington. "He's more useful with the second unit," Casey says. (That second unit now includes Derrick Rose, who needs the ball a ton.)

Still: Kennard and Griffin have untapped potential for a spicy two-man game. Kennard has a little Bradley Beal in him -- a knack for dancing back and forth as Griffin holds the ball at the elbow, and then cutting in unpredictable directions. "We have been repping that this summer," Kennard says. "We are getting comfortable."

He has the craft to shoulder more pick-and-roll duty. He jukes away from screens before going around them, pins defenders on his back, and slings smart passes with both hands:

But he can be tentative, pulling up for long 2s when he still has runway:

(Keep an eye on that last action. Detroit has only scratched the surface of the Griffin-Kennard pick-and-roll.)

Kennard attempted just 61 free throws last season. He barely got to the rim, and flung up panicky floaters when he did. "I've really been focusing on my finishing," Kennard says. Detroit's cramped spacing didn't help -- Kennard saw a forest of bodies anytime he approached the paint -- but that problem isn't going away.

He's not quite quick enough to burn brutes on switches. One solution: a step-back 3. Kennard has ultra-range, but he attempted only one pull-up 3 per game. He looked uncomfortable firing off the bounce, even when he had pried open some space with a mean dribble:

One culprit: a slow release. This can't happen:

Defenders ran Kennard off the line even if he caught the ball with 15 feet of empty space in front of him. Kennard and assistant coach D.J. Bakker have worked on being in shooting position -- hands out, knees bent -- before the ball arrives.

"I am dialed in on getting my shot off quicker," Kennard says. "I dissected film this summer like I never have before."

Spot-up shooting may end up Kennard's only "A" skill. He lacks the speed and explosiveness of most elite ball handlers -- true No. 1 option types. But if he gets a little better at everything, including adding a dash of Redick-style off-ball motion, he can transform into a different player.

The Houston Astros head into the postseason as the consensus favorites to win the World Series.

The Astros are around +200 to win the World Series at sportsbooks around the nation. The Los Angeles Dodgers are not far behind at +250, followed by the New York Yankees at +400.

Caesars Sportsbook has the Dodgers as the favorites, and at DraftKings sportsbooks, the majority of which are located on the East Coast, more money has bet on Yankees to win the World Series than has been bet on any other team.

The biggest reported bets at William Hill sportsbooks, though, are on the Astros. William Hill reported taking a $30,000 on the Astros +650 on April 21, and a $25,000 bet on Houston on May 13.

Even with the big bets on the Astros, multiple sportsbooks said Houston remains one of their best-case scenarios.

"The Dodgers and Astros are actually are best scenarios," Tony DiTommaso, risk manager for Las Vegas sportsbook operator CG Technology, told ESPN. "I'll take it."

The Astros and Dodgers met in the 2017 World Series, with Houston prevailing in a thrilling seven-game series.

"We would like the Astros to win it," MGM sportsbook director Jeff Stoneback said. "We're in a good position on them, and really, we should be OK as long as the Brewers or Twins don't make it in there."

At the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, the Atlanta Braves are (+1000), St. Louis Cardinals (+1200) and Twins (+1200) are next. The Nationals are +1600, followed by the Oakland A's (+2500), Brewers (+3000) and Tampa Bay Rays (+3000).

The wild-card games begin Tuesday, with the Nationals hosting the Brewers in the National League. The A's host the Rays on Wednesday in the American League wild-card game.

The Los Angeles Angels have fired Brad Ausmus as manager after just one year with the team, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney.

His status had been under review by the team's leadership in recent days, at the end of a disappointing season on the field and a tragic one off it, with the midseason death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

The Angels finished 72-90, 35 games behind the American League West champion Houston Astros, and failed to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

With Ausmus' dismissal, there will be immediate speculation that his replacement will be Joe Maddon, who parted ways with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. Before his first big league managerial job with the Tampa Bay Rays, Maddon worked for years in the Angels organization, and sources told Olney that owner Arte Moreno has high regard for Maddon.

Ausmus was hired as the franchise's first new manager in nearly two decades with Mike Scioscia's departure after the 2018 season. Scioscia managed 19 major league seasons, wound up with 1,650 career victories and led the wild-card Angels to a World Series title in 2002.

Some of Britain’s top athletics stars share insight into the events which excite them the most

While their focus is, of course, on their own performances at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, some of the GB team-members reveal which events and athletes they would be most excited to watch, if attending as a fan.

View the video on our YouTube channel to find a list of athletes interviewed and a link to each section.

Also see our channel for more behind-the-scenes content from the British team holding camp in Dubai.

Find the dedicated Doha 2019 section on our website here.

British number one Kyle Edmund has been beaten by a wildcard player at the China Open - his fifth straight defeat.

Edmund, the world number 34, was defeated 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5) in Beijing by Zhizhen Zhang, who is ranked 213.

Dan Evans beat another Chinese player Zhe Li 6-3 6-4, while Cameron Norrie was 7-6 (7-5) 1-0 up when opponent Cristian Garin of Chile retired.

Norrie could play Andy Murray in the second round, if the Scot overcomes Italian Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday.

Edmund has not won a match since beating Australian Nick Kyrgios at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal in August.

The 24-year-old has only won 12 matches at ATP Tour level in 2019 and he recently parted company with coach Mark Hilton.

Evans, 29, ranked 48th, will face either France's Gael Monfils or American John Isner in round two.

All-Egyptian finals line-up in San Francisco
By MATT COLES – Squash Mad Correspondent

An Egyptian quartet will feature in the finals of the Oracle NetSuite Open 2019, as Raneem El Welily, Nour El Tayeb, Mohamed ElShorbagy and Tarek Momen were all victorious in their semi final clashes in San Francisco.

El Welily and her husband Tarek Momen will be looking for their first joint title success to follow the example set by Ali Farag and his wife Nour El Tayeb in the US Open two years ago.

World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy was the victor over his younger brother, Marwan ElShorbagy, in the most anticipated match of the night, advancing to the final for the third consecutive year.

The siblings had met 16 times on the PSA World Tour, with the older brother Mohamed holding the 13-3 advantage, and he continued that momentum into the first game, as he restricted the World No.11 to just four points.

The second game had more ups-and-downs in it, as Mohamed took a 3-0 lead, before Marwan reeled off five straight points to lead 5-3. Mohamed then did the same to lead 8-5, before the pair became deadlocked at 10-10 as Marwan saved two match balls.

The tie-break would go all the way to 17-15, with neither player giving an inch to their sibling on court. Mohamed eventually took the victory with his seventh match ball, booking his place in the final against compatriot Tarek Momen on Monday evening.

“I am really happy to reach the final for a third consecutive year. It is not easy and it is a very different tournament this year with the best-of-three,” Mohamed ElShorbagy admitted.

“You have to play with a very different tactic for each match. Matches are short and sharp, especially in the colder conditions. I am really happy with how I played and I always think the top guys have a way of adapting and here we are, myself and Tarek, the top two seeds are in the final together.

“Tarek is one of the most inspiring players I have ever come across because he has worked on himself year on year. He was a very good junior, you expect things to happen once you go to the pro tour. That did not happen with him, but he kept working hard until it started happening for him and I respect that a lot about him.

“We are good friends off court, but we go hard at each other on the court and that is what everyone will want us to do tomorrow and hopefully we can give everyone a good match.”

Momen completed his path to the final with a polished performance against the spirited Colombian Miguel Rodriguez, winning 11-6, 11-3 in just 23 minutes, meaning he will have plenty of energy left for tonight’s showdown.

In the women’s draw, World No.5 Nour El Tayeb caused the only upset on the glass court at Embarcadero Plaza, as she defeated World No.3 Camille Serme in three games to reach the final of the Oracle NetSuite Open.

The pair had met 11 times on the PSA World Tour prior to this clash, with El Tayeb holding the 6-5 advantage coming into San Francisco, after winning their last encounter at the Tournament of Champions in New York in 2018.

This battle between the pair started off in a very tight fashion, with neither player able to break away. However, it was the Egyptian that eventually broke loose, winning the last four points of the game to take it 11-7.

Serme came back fighting in the second game, moving out into a quick-fire 6-2 lead. El Tayeb managed pull herself back to within a point, but the Frenchwoman had enough firepower to take it 11-7, forcing a decider.

The third game was always under control for the Egyptian, though, as she got an early lead and never looked like relinquishing it. The World No.5 secured the victory in just over half an hour, booking her spot in a second consecutive final to start the 2019-2020 campaign.

“First of all, it is nice to win a match on this court. I haven’t been here for the last three years, so I am happy to come out with a win in the semi finals,” El Tayeb admitted.

“I have played a lot of squash over the last couple of days. I played for an hour this morning. I just wanted to have a little bit of soreness, like Camille, who was probably feeling a little bit sore from yesterday.

“I wanted to feel a little bit of that soreness this morning and to feel like I have muscles, you know. I have been resting for over 48 hours without a match but it was worth the wait.”

El Tayeb will face World No.1 Raneem El Welily in the final of the Oracle NetSuite Open after she defeated India’s Joshna Chinappa in just 14 minutes games in the last match of the evening’s action.

The Egyptian won 10 of the first 12 points and although Chinappa saved three game balls, El Welily took it 11-5. She found herself trailing in the second at several points, but the World No.1 was able to fight back to take it 11-7 to finish the match off in quick time.

El Welily will face compatriot Nour El Tayeb in a repeat of the China Open final form earlier this month. The World No.1 will be looking for revenge after El Tayeb took victory in Shanghai.

She admitted: “I am happy to be in the final again. I have had good results so far and hopefully I can go one further tomorrow. It is still too early to think about that but I am happy with how I played today.

“I have been playing with Joshna since we were kids, we go way back. She has always had those killing shots out of nowhere and she can play them at any time. Obviously, I was prepared for a strong opponent, but I just had to be sharp today.”

As for her hopes of a double success for husband Tarek and herself, she added: “It feels good. We are just enjoying our time, trying to give our best on court. It is not about making it to finals, just trying to give it your best.

“Nour is playing well so far this season and she has had good results to start it, so obviously it will be a tough match, but I am going to be prepared for sure.” 

PSA World Tour Gold Oracle NetSuite Open 2019, Embarcadero Plaza, San Francisco, USA.

Men’s Semi Finals:
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) 2-0: 11-4, 17-15 (41m)
[2] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [6] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 2-0: 11-6, 11-3 (23m)
Final:
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v [2] Tarek Momen (EGY)

Women’s Semi Finals:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [8] Joshna Chinappa (IND) 2-0: 11-5, 11-7 (14m)
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [2] Camille Serme (FRA) 2-1: 11-7, 7-11, 11-6 (32m)
Final:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 

Report by MATT COLES (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA

It was one balmy night in Tokyo.

Welsh rugby has had many defining days over the years but this World Cup extravaganza takes some beating.

And Wales are now starting to believe. Not just the players and coaches, maybe the nation. Believe that Warren Gatland's side can actually win the World Cup.

It is an ambition that has been talked about over the past 18 months, especially during the record 14-match unbeaten run of 2018-19.

That led to Grand Slam glory and Wales were even ranked number one in the world for a couple of weeks in August.

Those hopes of World Cup success may have been still exactly that. Hope rather than expectation.

Now this one magical game in Japan has changed all that. After a 13-match losing sequence against the Wallabies, Wales have beaten Australia for a second successive game. And they have won the match that mattered.

Plaudits and comparisons will flow. Wales' greatest World Cup win? Most impressive Wales performance under Warren Gatland?

What is not in doubt is Wales are now in the driving seat to win Pool D and on a potentially easier path to the final in Yokohama on 2 November.

In front of interested England coach Eddie Jones, Wales' victory means they have maybe have avoided a quarter-final with his side, with France or Argentina lying in wait.

Magical match

First the match. And what a match. A World Cup group game should not evoke such intensity and passion especially in such humid conditions. That is meant to ramp up later in the tournament. But what the crowd of just under 50,000 witnessed in Japan's capital city will prove unforgettable.

Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards said before the match the players would remember this game for the rest of their lives. He was right.

A promising tournament had come alive when hosts Japan defeated Ireland. A day later Wales and Australia, two of the big beasts of this competition, produced this sensational spectacular in the match of the tournament so far.

For Welsh fans it was excruciating at times. Especially towards the end. For 45 minutes Wales were tactically peerless as they built up a 26-8 lead before the relentless inevitable Australia response.

Wales were reminiscent of a 400m runner who charged out of the blocks and hoped to hold onto victory by coping with the lactic acid.

Australia came up on the shoulder of Wales in the final straight but never passed them.

Gatland's side produced that decisive final flourish to provide spectacular celebration scenes from the Welsh supporters. Those fans might have been outnumbered in the stadium but they made themselves heard.

Manic Street Peachers anthems boomed around outside the stadium in Tokyo. The Welsh band held a couple of concerts in the Japan capital and there was a performance just before the match at the ground by lead singer James Dean Bradfield.

There was even some late floodlight failure to add to the drama. Wales' World Cup hopes are still shining bright though.

Statistics sometimes lie

Wales are heroic under Gatland. Their defence is resilient. These two factors are just accepted now and this Wales side once more belied the statistics.

Australia enjoyed more possession and territory, had double the amount of defenders beaten, made more clean breaks and won more penalties.

Yet they lost. Statistics can't demonstrate passion and pride and Wales delivered this when it mattered most.

There were so many key moments to dissect. Tries from Hadleigh Parkes and Gareth Davies' interception were supplemented by the boots of Dan Biggar and Rhys Patchell to set the tone.

Who knew the drop goal was back in fashion? Wales demonstrated that was the case with Biggar and Patchell slotting over three points at the beginning of each half after patient attacking build-up.

Before their second-half recovery, Australia were rattled and fortunate captain Michael Hooper was not yellow-carded for a late high shoulder charge on the unfortunate Biggar.

Hooper was also riled by French referee Romain Poite when Samu Kerevi was penalised for a forearm smash into Patchell when the Australian centre was carrying the ball.

Hooper blamed Patchell's poor tackling technique, Poite disagreed, while Australia coach Michael Cheika moaned about the tackle laws afterwards. Wales just got on with business.

Perfect 10s

Wales overcame plenty of their own adversity. They lost Biggar whose brave but poor technical tackle on Australia giant Kerevi resulted in the Wales fly-half stopping a try but failing a head injury assessment.

Patchell has suffered concussions of his own in the last two years but his level-headed composed performance belied his relative international inexperience.

Other new heroes emerged. Dragons back-rower Aaron Wainwright set the tone with a counter-rucking turnover from the kick-off. Against Hooper and David Pocock, the 22-year-old tackled everything in green and gold and ran like a banshee for the 49 minutes he was on the field.

There was also a notable late intervention from replacement scrum-half Tomos Williams when he acrobatically kept a Matt Toomua kick to touch in play in the final minutes in the Welsh 22. Small moments, huge implications.

Williams had come on for man-of-the-match Gareth Davies. How that Wales scrum-half loves World Cups.

Davies scored the decisive try against England in Twickenham four years ago and here showed jet-heeled speed to pick off Will Genia's pass and sprint away to score.

His pace off the mark even made former Australia centre Stirling Mortlock question whether the Wales scrum-half was offside.

Captain Marvel

Old heroes proved themselves again. Hooker Ken Owens and Justin Tipuric were immense in defence in the face of the Australian onslaught inspired by the second-half introduction of Toomua at outside-half for the ineffective Bernard Foley.

Tipuric's fellow back-rower Josh Navidi continued to defy the odds with some brutal tackles.

Then there was Alun Wyn Jones. The inspirational captain commemorated becoming Wales' most capped player on his 130th Test appearance for his country by topping the tackle charts. 25 in all. A remarkable figure for a lock but this 34-year-old second-row is no ordinary player.

His record-breaking achievement was recognised after the game by an affectionate kiss from Wales wing George North.

Gatland did say afterwards Wales must celebrate the victory for the skipper. I am not sure this is exactly what Jones had in mind but even the steely skipper can get caught up in the emotion sometimes.

Wales now deserve to rest up. Fiji await on 9 October in Oita. As World Cup recesses go the recovery period is significant.

So was this remarkable result in Japan's capital city. How significant we will have wait to see. But Wales can just start believing in that World Cup dream.