Champion Dethroned As Bailey Leads Lone Home British Open Challenge

England's defending champion Nick Matthew crashed out of the Dunlop British Open, leaving Tania Bailey to lead a sole English challenge into the semi-finals of the world-renowned event at the National Squash Centre at Sportcity in Manchester.

It was a quarter-final day of high drama on the all-glass court which staged the Commonwealth Games action five years ago. All the top four seeds in both events survived - but only after lengthy battles, the last of which took 100 minutes and finished well after midnight!

Matthew, the sixth seed from Sheffield, faced top seed Amr Shabana - the Egyptian who has topped the world rankings for 18 months since April last year. The 27-year-old Yorkshireman, who last year became the first Englishman for 67 years to win the sport's longest-established trophy, took the opening game - but Shabana fought back to take the match 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 in 69 minutes.

"From when I won my British Open title, I'm definitely a better player," Matthew told the official website www.britishopensquash.com . "The third game was crucial - but at nine-all I put a lob out of court, and I can't say that I missed my chance, that I lost the match there, but it was such an opportunity, and after that, coming back from 2/1 was a different story.

"I just need to get better at what I'm good at, and add new dimensions to my game, to be able to challenge consistently for the titles."

Shabana, now in his second British Open semi-final, was full of praise for his opponent: "Nick is an incredible player - I just beat him only 3/2 here in the Super Series Finals, so I knew that it was going to be so close. He has improved a lot, there is much more variation in his game, and having won the British Open gave him a lot of confidence.

"It's so different to have the crowd by you, and the English players, you can feel, they really love and are ready to play when they have the crowd by their side."

The 28-year-old from Cairo will now face Gregory Gaultier, the third-seeded Frenchman who beat England's surprise quarter-finalist Peter Barker, the No12 seed, 11-7, 11-8, 11-3 in 48 minutes.

There is also French interest in the other men's semi-final where fourth seed Thierry Lincou takes on Australia's three-time champion David Palmer, the No2 seed.

Lincou, runner-up last year, took out another surprise quarter-finalist - Malaysia's 16th seed Ong Beng Hee who upset eighth-seeded Australian Stewart Boswell in the previous round. The Frenchman won 11-8, 11-2, 11-10 (2-0) in 61 minutes.

But the clash which kept the audience in their seats till after midnight was the longest of the tournament - in which Palmer avenged his loss to James Willstrop in the Prince English Grand Prix final earlier this month to beat the England number one 11-10 (2-0), 6-11, 11-10 (2-0), 6-11, 11-5 in 100 minutes.

"I gave it everything I had - when I play a match like that, I can't complain. I thought it was a very good game of squash," explained a dejected Willstrop afterwards. "Of course I'm extremely disappointed; I wanted to win that tournament desperately.

"To his credit, he played a top fifth game, and made it hard for me. I just couldn't keep it up with it really. He had a great 3-0 kick-start, and that's not a big help to find yourself down after all the work I had done for the whole of the match," added the 24-year-old Yorkshireman.

The victorious Palmer explained his determination to win: "I said recently that there was one more British Open Championship in me, and I hope this is the one: that's why I tried so hard tonight."

In the women's event, fourth seed Tania Bailey faced England team-mate Vicky Botwright - the sixth seed from Manchester who views the NSC as her 'home club'. Bailey came back from a game down to win 6-9, 10-8, 9-4, 2-9, 9-0 in 69 minutes.

"We were both hitting the ball well and it was really hot on there, we were both picking stuff up really well," said Bailey. "It was nip and tuck all the way in the first three, then Vicky played really well in the fourth - I don't think I did anything wrong, she just played better than me.

"I never really felt in control, but I really wanted to win - winning this title would be the best thing I can do, so I came out in the fifth determined to play my game and fortunately it all went well for me," added the 27-year-old from Stamford in Lincolnshire who was runner-up in 2002.

Bailey will face top seed Nicol David - but the world number one from Malaysia who is bidding for a third successive title was taken the full distance by Natalie Grainger, the fifth seed from Washington DC who is making the first appearance in the city of her birth since becoming a US citizen earlier this year.

David took the first two games, but Grainger struck back to draw level before the favourite upped her game to win 9-3, 9-3, 7-9, 2-9, 9-0 in 53 minutes.

"I felt good in the first two games and went for it right from the start, but then she started going for her shots and hit some really good winners," said the 24-year-old from Penang.

"This event on its own is the highlight of the year, along with the worlds; you just have to give it your all however you feel and whatever's happening."

Grainger made no secret of her disappointment at losing - especially to 9-0 in the fifth game: "But I'm glad I finally managed to impose myself on her. In the fourth I could feel it, the aura had gone!"

The other women's semi-final will provide the latest chapter in the sibling rivalry between Australian sisters Natalie Grinham, the No2 seed, and Rachael Grinham, the third seed.

Natalie, the younger, and runner-up in 2005, defeated Ireland's No7 seed Madeline Perry 9-3, 9-6, 9-7 in 54 minutes, while Rachael, runner-up last year, outlasted Dutch number one Vanessa Atkinson, the eighth seed, 7-9, 9-7, 9-6, 9-0 in 75 minutes.

At 8-3 to Grinham in the third game, an accidental clash resulted in Atkinson taking more than an hour-long break to treat a cut to her racket hand.

"I was just panicking in the break," admitted Grinham senior afterwards. "Vanessa is playing very well at the moment; your best chance is to wear her down, which I'd started to do in the third. The last thing you want is a break where she can come back out fresh again.

"I totally expected her to come out attacking when we started again; she had nothing to lose and knew it would be mentally devastating for me if I'd lost that game from 8-3 up."

Men's quarter-finals:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [6] Nick Matthew (ENG) 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (69m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [12] Peter Barker (ENG) 11-7, 11-8, 11-3 (48m)
[4] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [16] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 11-8, 11-2, 11-10 (2-0) (61m)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) bt [5] James Willstrop (ENG) 11-10 (2-0), 6-11, 11-10 (2-0), 6-11, 11-5 (100m)

Women's quarter-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [5] Natalie Grainger (USA) 9-3, 9-3, 7-9, 2-9, 9-0 (53m)
[4] Tania Bailey (ENG) bt [6] Vicky Botwright (ENG) 6-9, 10-8, 9-4, 2-9, 9-0 (69m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [8] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 7-9, 9-7, 9-6, 9-0 (75m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt [7] Madeline Perry (IRL) 9-3, 9-6, 9-7 (54m)