Top seeds all advance to semi-finals of Qatar Classic
All the top seeds who progressed through their second round matches to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Qatar Classic, went on to win on Wednesday, 10 November to set up a semi-final consisting of
the top-four seeds.
The most lopsided match was contested between number one seed Nick Matthew of England who easily disposed of fellow countryman Daryl Selby 11-5, 11-3, 11-5, in just 34 minutes.
Matthew took advantage of the fact that Selby had just come off a 104-minute marathon match over Australian Cameron Pilley in the quarter-final.
Number three seed Karim Darwish of Egypt managed a victory over France's Thierry Lincou in four games triumphing 13-11, 11-2, 6-11, 11-9, in 68 minutes.
Lincou had also recently in a big match that went to five games and Darwish was able to take advantage.
"I had to push myself to come back on court today," Lincou told
http://www.squashsite.co.uk/ after the match. "I was a bit flat after yesterday's big match I had with David (Palmer), I was struggling a bit mentally today and that's why I had some bad patches where I lost
my focus.
“I had two good wins this week, then a good match today, so of course I want to keep going. Overall, I’m really happy with this trip.”
Englishman Peter Barker was forced to retire from his match with Gregory Gaultier after the Frenchman won the first two games 11-4, 11-1.
"My glute packed up in the middle of the first game," Barker explained after the match.
In the other quarter-final match between Egyptian Amr Shabana, seeded number two, and Englishman James Willstrop, the sixth seed, Shabana emerged victorious taking the match by a score of 2-11, 14-12,
11-4, 11-7, after 71 minutes.
“My hat to him,” Willstrop said after the match about Shabana. “He keeps getting written off and he keeps coming back.
“I have an immense respect for the guy. He has got an outstanding attitude on the court.
“For a few times I’ve been playing against him I’ve developed a sort of mental block,” Shabana said. “But after a while I just thought to myself ‘might as well play, I’ve got nothing to lose’. And from
that point on it was pretty close.”
The stage is now set for two compelling semi-final matches which pits the number 1 seed Matthew against number 3 seed Darwish, and number 2 seed Amr Shabana gets set to take on number 4 seed Gregory Gaultier.
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