Atlas Khan & Pierrepont Make Semis In Macau

Aamir Atlas Khan and Suzie Pierrepont upset the seedings on quarter-finals day in the first Macau Open for seven years when they claimed unexpected slots in the semi-finals of the Tour event in Macau, the first European colony in China.

Atlas Khan, a qualifier from Pakistan, continued his giant-killing run in the men's $52,500 5-star PSA Tour event after defeating Malaysia's fifth seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar in the opening round.

In the quarters, the 18-year-old from Peshawar dropped the first game against third seed Nick Matthew - but fought back to beat the former British Open champion from England 8-11, 15-13, 11-9, 11-5.

The teenager will now face favourite Gregory Gaultier after the world No2 from France despatched Englishman Alister Walker 11-9, 11-2, 11-4.

Suzie Pierrepont, the sixth seed from England, also dropped the first game against Line Hansen in the quarter-finals of the $16,000 WISPA World Tour championship. But the US-based 23-year-old recovered to beat the third seed from Denmark 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7.

Pierrepont will now take on top seed Rebecca Chiu for a place in the final.

Men's quarter-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [8] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-9, 11-2, 11-4
[Q] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [3] Nick Matthew (ENG) 8-11, 15-13, 11-9, 11-5
[4] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [Q] Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-8, 11-8, 11-4
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-3, 11-3, 11-5

Women's quarter-finals:
[1] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt [8] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 11-9, 14-12, 11-7
[6] Suzie Pierrepont (ENG) bt [3] Line Hansen (DEN) 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7
[4] Latasha Khan (USA) bt [5] Christina Mak (HKG) 9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9
[2] Samantha Teran (MEX) bt [Q] Lauren Selby (ENG) 11-9, 11-0, 11-9