Lincou Ousts World Champion Ashour In Qatar

Thierry Lincou firmly put the disappointment of recent PSA Tour results behind him when he upset third seed Ramy Ashour in five games in the men's quarter-finals of the Qatar Classic at the Khalifa International Squash Complex in the Qatar capital Doha.

Ashour, playing in his first event as World Open champion, was a game and 9-7 up in second when he fell over close to the side wall. The 21-year-old Egyptian immediately grasped his right knee, but eventually recovered to finish the game - simply going for winners and unable to stop fifth seed Lincou levelling the match.

After a three-minute injury break, Ashour came back for the third game, which went to the Frenchman. Moving more freely in the fourth, wearing a knee bandage and ankle strapping, Ashour saved a match ball at 9-10 before winning the game to level the match for the second time.

But Lincou came out strong in the decider and went on to clinch a confidence-boosting 6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3 victory - and his first win over Ashour in five attempts.

"It is never easy to play somebody who is injured and stay focused to forget it," explained Lincou, a former world number one, afterwards. "I think I managed to do it but it was unlucky for him."

In a men's session of the $145,000 Super Series Platinum PSA Tour event beset by upsets, England's No7 seed Nick Matthew recorded his longest match on the PSA Tour when he defeated fourth-seeded Australian David Palmer 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 13-15, 11-6 in 111 minutes - and Egypt's Karim Darwish, runner-up in last week's World Open in Manchester, twice came from behind to beat second seed Gregory Gaultier 5-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5.

Order was restored in the women's $74,000 Gold WISPA World Tour event when all four top seeds progressed to the semi-finals.

Malaysian favourite Nicol David remained on course to win her third successive title when she beat Alison Waters 11-4, 14-12, 11-9.

Men's quarter-finals:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [10] Peter Barker (ENG) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (35m)
[5] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3 (59m)
[7] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [4] David Palmer (AUS) 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 13-15, 11-6 (111m)
[6] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 5-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5 (65m)

Women's quarter-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [7] Alison Waters (ENG) 11-4, 14-12, 11-9 (24m)
[4] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [9] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (36m)
[3] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [8] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) 12-10, 1-11, 11-7, 14-12 (51m)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [12] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (28m)