Egyptian Hierarchy To Be Tested In St Louis

Egyptian squash hierarchy will be put to the test in the US state of Missouri when former world junior champion Karim Darwish and the reigning world junior champion Ramy Ashour meet for the first time on the PSA Tour in the quarter-finals of the St Louis Open.

Top seed Darwish, the in-form world No10 from Cairo who reached the semi-finals of the Dunlop British Open last week, needed 39 minutes to overcome unseeded Australian Cameron Pilley 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-5 in the first round of the 5-star PSA Tour event in St Louis.

By contrast, eighth seed Ashour despatched his opponent in just 22 minutes. The 18-year-old world No21, who in July became the first player in history to win the men's world junior title for a second time, beat Canadian qualifier Matthew Giuffre 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 to set up his maiden clash with compatriot Darwish.

Hisham Mohd Ashour failed in his bid to join younger brother Ramy in the last eight. The 24-year-old qualifier went down 11-9, 11-10 (6-4), 11-5 in 45 minutes to Australia's fourth seed Stewart Boswell.

Boswell, the world No13 from Canberra, will meet Welshman Alex Gough in the quarter-finals. The 35-year-old sixth seed - who last week collected his first Masters title, winning the British Open Over-35 crown in Nottingham - beat USA's St Louis-based Michael Puertas 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6.

1st round (1st day):
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-5 (39m)
[8] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Matthew Giuffre (CAN) 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 (22m)
[4] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [Q] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-9, 11-10 (6-4), 11-5 (45m)
[6] Alex Gough (WAL) bt Michael Puertas (USA) 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6 (36m)
[7] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt [Q] Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) 10-11 (0-2), 11-3, 11-3, 11-8 (53m)