Seeds Sail Into Sannois Semis

The top seeds comfortably survived the quarter-finals of the Women's Sannois International to take their anticipated places in the semi-finals of the inaugural $20,000 WISPA World Tour squash event at OS Sannois in Sannois, France.

French favourite Isabelle Stoehr took on unseeded Nour El Tayeb, one of two Egyptian teenagers who caused impressive first round upsets. But 15-year-old El Tayeb injured her hamstring in her marathon victory over England's seventh seed Laura Hill and had to concede her quarter-final after just seven minutes.

"I played a good first match against English girl Emma Chorley, then against so talented Nour El Tayeb who had a tough match against Laura Hill this morning," Stoehr, the world No15, explained to www.sitesquash.com after her 9-1, 4-0 win.

"I'm now playing the semi against Line Hansen. Despite the end of the season, I still have the desire to do well, and even more when I'm playing in front of a French audience. The players are delighted with the organization here, the welcoming has been superb."

Fourth seed Hansen denied the organisers an all-French semi after beating eighth seed Camille Serme 9-2, 9-0, 9-6.

England's Lauren Briggs ended Heba El Torky's Sannois run, beating the 17-year-old Egyptian qualifier 9-3, 9-5, 9-1. Third seed Briggs will face Annelize Naude, the No2 seed from the Netherlands who gained her place in the last four when English opponent Lauren Siddall retired injured with the score standing at 9-5, 9-0, 4-0.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) bt Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 9-1, 4-0 ret. (7m)
[4] Line Hansen (DEN) bt [8] Camille Serme (FRA) 9-2, 9-0, 9-6 (37m)
[3] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt [Q] Heba El Torky (EGY) 9-3, 9-5, 9-1 (28m)
[2] Annelize Naude (NED) bt [6] Lauren Siddall (ENG) 9-5, 9-0, 4-0 ret. (26m)