Gaultier & Darwish Through To New York Semis

Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, the world No4, and Egypt's new world number one Karim Darwish secured places in the semi-finals of the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions after contrasting victories in the $117,500 PSA Tour Super Series Gold squash event at Grand Central Terminal in New York.

Gaultier let loose with an exultant yell as he entered the players' area after defeating Australia's David Palmer in four games: "I had a tough draw playing David in the quarter-finals. He doesn't ever give up from the first rally of the match to the very end. But I was ready to have a good fight," said the 26-year-old from Aix-en-Provence.

Palmer got off to a strong start, taking a 10-2 lead in the first game. "He was just playing better than me," admitted Gaultier later. "I was going too short and hitting too many tins." Down game ball at 2-10, the mercurial Frenchman started to dig deep and scored four points in succession to change the momentum.

Although he lost the game, the fourth seed entered the second game with renewed confidence and charged out to a 5-1 lead, winning the game at 11-6. By the third, Gaultier was in complete control, winning 11-3.

Palmer, the four-time British Open champion, was not about to exit the one tournament he has never previously won without one last effort - and stayed even with Gaultier in the fourth game as they exchanged points to seven-all. The Frenchman snatched three consecutive points to reach match ball at 10-7 - but Palmer was still not about to be counted out and tied the game at 10- 10 and 11-11 before Gaultier finally won two successive points to win the game 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 13-11 after 67 minutes.

"I am feeling strong physically and mentally," Gaultier commented as he looked ahead to his semi-final encounter with the second seed.

Darwish was surprised at the ease with which he defeated thirteenth seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar in the last quarter-final match. "I was expecting much more from him," said the Egyptian after the 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 victory which took just 26 minutes.

"But I am quite happy to get to the semi-finals without having lost a game." The 27-year-old, who assumed the top spot in the PSA rankings this month after being ranked No8 just a year ago, attributes his recent success to being more relaxed and confident. In particular, he credits some of the turnaround to his marriage to Engy Kheirallah, also a professional squash player, who won the deciding match this past December to clinch the Women's World Team Championship for Egypt.

Quarter-finals (lower half of draw):
[4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [6] David Palmer (AUS) 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 13-11 (67m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 (26m)