Ashour & Abbas Advance In St Louis

Seeded only to reach the quarter-finals, Egyptians Ramy Ashour and Mohammed Abbas are one match away from meeting in the final of the MPM St Louis Open in the US state of Missouri.

Ashour, the 18-year record two-times world junior champion, upset his experienced compatriot Karim Darwish in just two games after the top seed conceded the match after just 22 minutes with the score at 11-10 (2-0), 11-1. Darwish has been unwell since arriving in St Louis.

Ashour, the No8 seed, will now face fourth seed Stewart Boswell in the semi-finals after the Australian battled from two games down to beat sixth-seeded Welshman Alex Gough 5-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0), 11-1 in 71 minutes.

A rejuvenated Mohammed Abbas, seeded five, prevailed in an 83-minute quarter-final marathon against Malaysian Ong Beng Hee, upsetting the third seed 5-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (2-0), 9-11, 11-7.

The 25-year-old from Cairo will now face local hero John White, the US-based second seed from Scotland who recovered from a game down to beat seventh-seeded Egyptian Wael El Hindi 10-11 (3-5), 11-3, 11-8, 11-9 in exactly one hour.

Quarter-finals:
[8] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [1] Karim Darwish (EGY) 11-10 (2-0), 11-1 ret. (22m)
[4] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [6] Alex Gough (WAL) 5-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0), 11-1 (71m)
[5] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt [3] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 5-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (2-0), 9-11, 11-7 (83m)
[2] John White (SCO) bt [7] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 10-11 (3-5), 11-3, 11-8, 11-9 (60m)