Kiwi squash star Paul Coll is through to the final of the world squash championship for the first time in his career.
The 27-year-old scored a come-from-behind 9-11 11-9 8-11 11-6 11-7 win over Egypt's Marwan El Shorbagy in 84 minutes to reach the title decider.
The world No.5 is the first Kiwi male to make the world champs finals since Ross Norman won the title from Pakistan's Jahangir Khan in 1986.
"I feel over the moon," said Coll. "It is a pretty surreal feeling, but like I said yesterday, I am just going to enjoy the moment.
"Marwan is one of the best in the game at winning quick points and he did exactly that at the start of the first three games. I was kicking myself, because my gameplan was to not let him do that.
"I did not feel like I was playing terrible squash, there were just a few wrong shot selections.
"I didn't want to get down on myself, I just needed to stay focused. I knew I was doing the right thing, just executing that final shot was very key.
"The important thing was just to stay mentally focussed and believe that I was doing the right thing," said the 27-year-old from Greymouth.
"I wasn't even thinking at the end there, I was just trying to run my backside off, and trying to volley as much as possible and push up the court. I had to make him work and I tried to put the pace through the roof."
Coll faces Egyptian second seed Tarek Momen in the final on Saturday (NZ time). The pair have played six times with three wins each, although Coll won the last time they played, in this year's final of the Canary Wharf Classic.
Neither Coll nor Momen have won the title before.
"To be able to repeat what Norman did would be amazing," Coll added.
