Kneipp Stuns Gaultier In St Louis

Australia's fifth seed Joseph Kneipp upset the seedings in the St Louis Open when he despatched fourth-seeded Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in straight games in the quarter-finals in Missouri, USA.

Gaultier, the world No11 from Aix-en-Provence, put up a strong opening game but the match was never really close, with Kneipp playing at his best. The Amsterdam-based Australian totally controlled the pace and at 6-2 in the third game it became clear that Gaultier wanted off of the court. The final points lasted only a couple of minutes and Kneipp eased into the semis with an 11-7 11-5 11-2 scoreline.

Kneipp now faces Egypt's No2 seed Amr Shabana. In a one of the best matches of the day, the world champion defeated fellow Egyptian Mohammed Abbas, the seventh seed, 11-8 9-11 11-4 10-11 11-5 in 75 minutes.

The other semi-final will feature top-seeded Canadian Jonathon Power and Egypt's Karim Darwish, the third seed. In what was described by the St Louis club spokesman Todd Taylor as "more of a wrestling match than a squash match", Power beat sixth seed Anthony Ricketts 11-9 11-7 6-11 11-2 in 52 minutes.

Power and Ricketts bumped and battled one another throughout. At one point they went to the floor on top of one another. The Australian complained to referee Simon Parke that Power was bumping him excessively, to which Parke replied: "I know, I played him last night! Play on," said Englishman.

After winning two close games, Power became frustrated with his own shot-making in game three and appeared to almost deliberately bury several balls into the tin mid way through the game. Clearly his head was not in the game and he surrendered it for just six points.

The 30-year-old from Montreal proved why he is a champion in the fourth game, totally dominating the play and advancing to the semi-finals.

In the other quarter-final, Darwish beat eighth-seeded Canadian Graham Ryding 11-6 4-11 8-11 11-8 11-5 in exactly one hour.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [6] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-2 (52m)
[3] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [8] Graham Ryding (CAN) 11-6, 4-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 (60m)
[5] Joseph Kneipp (AUS) bt [4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-7, 11-5, 11-2 (30m)
[2] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [7] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 10-11 (1-3), 11-5 (75m)