Lincou only had to win one game to be sure of reaching a final against Greg Gaultier, because he had a superior games difference to either Willstrop or Amr Shabana – but the older of the two Frenchman was looking distinctly rocky and unsure of progressing when he went two games down.
At that stage Willstrop was playing close to his best, despite having taken a heavy knock on the nose after only two 
points, an injury which necessitated a 15-minute break and left him knowing that more blood would cause the match to be awarded to his opponent.
But much seem to change with the anger which Lincou generated after being denied a let on the final point of the second game and then seeing a let given to the Englishman on the second point of the third game.
The second decision certainly surprised some people, and both seemed like home town decisions to Lincou, who came out of the court and drew attention to the replay of the first decision on the giant screen, and then bellowed “no, no” loudly after the second.
That brought one of the game's great gents an admonishment: “Mr Lincou, it's the referee's decision,” he was sharply told.
Lincou halted his dissent, but he launched with a great fury into the next rally, and the adrenalin he got from the sense of injustice appeared to focus his mind wonderfully. He raced to 3-0, battled through a sequence of lets, still smouldering, and then advanced quickly again to 5-1, 6-1 and 7-1.
After one very long rally, when Lincou eventually got through with a beautifully caressed drop after three previous attempts had been retrieved by Willstrop, he beamed with fierce joy and shook a bent-armed fist at the wall.
Willstrop kept plugging away but saw his last chance of qualifying disappear at 10-4 when he slightly mistimed a forehand drive into the middle of the court, was unable to offer his opponent a fair view of the ball, and conceded a 
penalty point. Lincou resisted the temptation to utter a “touche”.
Willstrop's resistance was less stern after that, and the only surprise was that Lincou's embattled attitude continued for as long as it did through a surprisingly competitive final game.
With a final less than 20 hours away he expended more energy on many twists and turns in several very strongly contested rallies before fading from 6-6 in the fifth game and wisely letting the last point go.
The final score was 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 3-11, 11-6, though a more significant statistic was that it lasted, including the injury break, for almost an hour and a half. Gaultier must be an even firmer favourite now.
It meant that Amr Shabana's earlier effort in scoring his second win, with a straight games conquest of Ramy Ashour, carried him only as far as a third place play-off tomorrow with Karim Darwish.
Later Lincou asked why he had continued trying so hard after he had already qualified and admitted that he had not realised. "I thought I had to win two games," he said. "No - only one," he was told. "Oh shit," blurted Lincou. "And would you like to repeat that?" he was asked. "Ah, merde," he said.