Willstrop Wilts At Canary Wharf

England's James Willstrop disappointed a full-house crowd at East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf, London, when he was knocked out of the quarter-finals of the ISS Canary Wharf Classic by Egypt's Karim Darwish. England star Willstrop, from Pontefract, lost 11-6 4-11 10-11 11-7 11-5 in 77 minutes of exciting, attacking squash between two former world junior champions.

World No6 Willstrop, 22 years old and 6ft 5in tall, began sluggishly and allowed the more accurate Egyptian, the seventh seed, to win the opening game comfortably. But once the third seed settled into his stride, he used his astonishing reach to attack at every opportunity.

He levelled matters with a near-perfect second game and withstood fierce resistance from Darwish to sneak the third on a tiebreak. But Willstrop wilted in the fourth as Darwish hit back and the Egyptian took complete control in the fifth to reach the semi-finals.

Willstrop's Pontefract and England team-mate Lee Beachill followed him out of the tournament when he lost in straight games to Peter Nicol. Nicol won 11-7 11-7 11-4 in 44 minutes of punishing, top-quality squash. Beachill reached the British National Championship final in Manchester last week just a fortnight after a knee operation and was clearly feeling the effects as Nicol attacked in ruthless fashion.

Co-promoter Nicol said: "That was a tough match and the tournament schedule makes a brutal sport even more brutal. Full marks to Lee for his efforts. I enjoyed the match and just love this court. It allows you to attack and you reap the dividends when you can achieve a good length."

Beachill had no complaints and admitted: "I had to work extremely hard last week and it was obvious that I was still feeling the effects of those efforts. Peter was playing some excellent squash and he is looking in very good shape at the moment."

Both players were able to find a dying length on the glass court but Nicol's precision play was superior on the night. When Beachill's returns were loose, Nicol then switched the attack to the front corners with devastating effect.

Top seed Anthony Ricketts of Australia was made to battle all the way by rising French star Gregory Gaultier to reach the semi-finals. Ricketts, who is based most of the year in Reading, won 11-8 4-11 8-11 11-7 11-10 in 105 minutes of absorbing and punishing squash.

Gaultier bounced back after losing the opening game to win the second and third, but visibly tired in the fourth as Ricketts tightened up.

In the fifth, Gaultier began firing in audacious winners from the back of the court to lead 4-1, but a solid recovery from Ricketts took him to 7-4, 9-6 and match ball at 10-7, but Gaultier hit back again to force the decider to a tiebreak.

Incredibly, both players made mistakes on their own match balls before Ricketts won the tiebreak 4-2 to clinch a semi-final match against Egyptian Karim Darwish, the No.7 seed.

No2 seed Thierry Lincou faces Nicol in the other semi-final after beating Welsh outsider Alex Gough 11-8 11-7 11-2 in 31 minutes.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [8] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-8, 4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-10 (4-2) (105m)
[7] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [3] James Willstrop (ENG) 11-6, 4-11, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-5 (77m)
[4] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt [5] Lee Beachill (ENG) 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 (42m)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Alex Gough (WAL) 11-8, 11-7, 11-2 (31m)