SUZI Booth will defend her York Ladies Veteran's Squash Championship title against second seed Ruth Bielby at Dunnington tonight.

Booth eased past fourth seed Fiona Howell 9-3 9-3 9-4 in the semi-finals while Malton-based Bielby booked her place in the final by defeating Helen Phillips 9-3 9-1 9-7.

While those games were fairly straight forward, the plate semi-final between Sheila Clifford and Ann Matwijiszyn was a real scrap.

Clifford emerged victorious after a 40-minute battle which saw Matwijiszyn make a flying start by winning the opening game 9-1 and the second 9-7.

Matwijiszyn looked to be on her way to victory when she led 3-1 in the third, but Clifford fought back to win 9-6.

That proved the turning point as Clifford stormed 6-1 ahead in the fourth and closed the game out at 9-4.

It took the sting out of Matwijiszyn and Clifford strolled home 9-1 in the fifth and faces Linda Craggs in tonight's plate final.

Main event, semi-finals: Suzi Booth (1) bt Fiona Howell (4) 9-3 9-3 9-4, Ruth Bielby (2) bt Helen Phillips (3) 9-3 9-1 9-7. Plate, semi-final: Linda Craggs (1) bt Sylvia Moore 9-2 9-3 9-3, Sheila Clifford bt Ann Matwijiszyn (2) 1-9 7-9 9-6 9-4 9-1. Tonight's finals start at 7.20pm.