Durbach Resists Mexican Challenge In San Francisco

Top-seeded South African Rodney Durbach resisted a spirited challenge from Eric Galvez in the quarter-finals of the Tennyson West Fog City Open to beat the unseeded Mexican in four games in San Francisco.

Durbach, the 32-yearold world No28 from Potchefstroom, won 11-10 5-11 11-5 11-7 in 66 minutes to set up a semi-final against third seed Cameron Pilley. The Australian needed only three games to conquer fifth-seeded Frenchman Jean-Michel Arcucci, but the 11-5 11-9 11-10 win took Pilley 71 minutes to resolve.

Shahier Razik led North American interest through to the semi-finals with a 10-11 11-8 11-2 11-2 victory over fellow Canadian Matthew Giuffre, the No7 seed. Razik, the No2 seed, now faces Ireland's Liam Kenny after the eighth seed ended Ian Power's unseeded run with an 11-5 11-5 11-10 win over the Canadian.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt Eric Galvez (MEX) 11-10 (4-2), 5-11, 11-5, 11-7 (66m)
[3] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [5] Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) 11-5, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0) (71m)
[8] Liam Kenny (IRL) bt Ian Power (CAN) 11-5, 11-5, 11-10 (3-1) (49m)
[2] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt [7] Matthew Giuffre (CAN) 10-11 (0-2), 11-8, 11-2, 11-2 (48m)