Galifi Beats Borja In Bordeaux Battle

Borja Golan's bid to reach the final of the Internationaux de France for the second time in three years came to an end in Bordeaux when the Spanish qualifier lost in straight games to sixth seed Stephane Galifi in the quarter-finals of the $20,000 PSA World Tour squash event at Squash Ornano.

Golan, who reached 10 in the world last year to become the highest-ranked Spaniard of all-time, was making his first Tour appearance since a career-threatening knee injury in September.

The 27-year-old from Santiago DC battled through the qualifiers - then removed second seed Tom Richards in the first round.

But his battle against Galifi for a place in the semi-finals was a match too far for the Spaniard as the France-based Italian progressed 11-8, 11-7, 15-13.

"This is my first PSA tournament after my injury eight months ago - and I feel better than I thought," explained Golan, who reached the final of the 2008 championship in Paris as sixth seed after beating two higher-seeded players. "I started to play training matches four weeks ago - first week 20 minutes, second week 30 minutes ... but my body is still struggling because I'm playing my first tough matches.

"It is only a question of time before I get better. My goal now is not to win or lose these first matches - only to compete well and have good games.

"I'm a happy boy playing the Tour again. Squash is not only a job for me - it is a passion too!"

Galifi will face Yann Perrin after the unseeded 24-year-old from Aix-en-Provence became the only Frenchman through to the last four following an 11-4, 13-11, 11-8 upset over England's No3 seed Chris Ryder.

The other match will be the semi predicted by the seedings, between England's Jonathan Kemp and Hungarian Mark Krajcsak. Top seed Kemp beat France's No7 seed Julien Balbo 11-6, 11-2, 11-7, while the 26-year-old fourth seed from Budapest ended the run of English qualifier Shaun le Roux after beating the Yorkshireman 15-13, 11-7, 11-7.

Semi-final line-up:
[1] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) v [4] Mark Krajcsak (HUN)
[6] Stephane Galifi (ITA) v Yann Perrin (FRA)