Ball Leads English Trio Into Exeter Semi-Finals

Top seed Bradley Ball led a trio of Englishmen through to the semi-finals of the Devon & Exeter Open after a comfortable straight games win over Frenchman Laurent Elriani in the quarter-finals of the inaugural PSA Tour event at Devon & Exeter Club in Exeter, in the English county of Devon.

The 30-year-old from Ipswich beat fifth seed Elriani 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 and will now face compatriot Jonathan Harford for a place in the final. The fourth seed from Leeds was taken the full distance by fellow Englishman David Barnett before beating the No8 seed from Newcastle 11-1, 10-11 (2-4), 8-11, 11-5, 11-4.

Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet will be hoping to break up the English party. The No7 seed had to fight back from two games down to overcome UK-based Egyptian qualifier Mohamed El Shorbagy 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0) in a 76-minute marathon.

Castagnet will now meet third seed Chris Ryder, the World Universities champion from Wolverhampton who defeated unseeded Frenchman Yann Perrin 11-6, 11-5, 11-9.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Bradley Ball (ENG) bt [5] Laurent Elriani (FRA) 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 (30m)
[4] Jonathan Harford (ENG) bt [8] David Barnett (ENG) 11-1, 10-11 (2-4), 8-11, 11-5, 11-4 (60m)
[3] Chris Ryder (ENG) bt Yann Perrin (FRA) 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 (43m)
[7] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [Q] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0) (76m)