Egyptians Ashour & Abbas Storm Into Virginia Pro Semis

Egyptians Hisham Mohd Ashour and Mohammed Abbas claimed unexpected places in the semi-finals of the Virginia Pro Championship after dramatic upsets over higher-seeded opponents in the 5-star PSA Tour event in Virginia, USA.

Third seed John White suffered his second defeat by a member of the Ashour family in three days! Earlier in the week, the US-based Scot went down to the new world No5 Ramy Ashour in the final of the EBS Dayton Open in Ohio.

In Virginia it was older brother Hisham Mohd Ashour who caused White's downfall. Ashour senior, a 24-year-old qualifier, twice fought back against White to beat the world No10 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0).

It was also a tie-break that finally resolved the other Egyptian upset when Mohammed Abbas, the No7 seed, came back from 1/2 down to defeat Malaysia's fourth seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-10 (4-2).

The event's two top seeds had comfortable straight games wins en-route to the semi-finals. Favourite Anthony Ricketts, the Australian who rose three places to No7 in this month's new world rankings, beat Egypt's sixth seed Wael El Hindi 11-5, 11-10 (2-0), 11-2, while England's second seed Lee Beachill defeated fifth-seeded compatriot Adrian Grant 11-5, 11-9, 11-5.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [6] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-5, 11-10 (2-0), 11-2
[Q] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt [3] John White (SCO) 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0)
[7] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt [4] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-10 (4-2)
[2] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [5] Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-5, 11-9, 11-5