Barrington Bursts Into COAS Semis

In a remarkable day of quarter-final action in the COAS International in Pakistan - when all matches went the full distance of five games - England's Joey Barrington secured the only upset when he fought back from 1/2 down against second-seeded Malaysian Mohd Azlan Iskandar and finally prevailed in a tense tie-break in the decider in Islamabad.

Joey, the 25-year-old son of legendary six-times British Open champion Jonah Barrington, had earlier survived a five-game battle with Pakistan's Saeed Hassan in the first round. After taking the opener against Azlan, ranked 17 in the world, Barrington fell two behind - but maintained his focus to fight back to claim his significant 11-9 6-11 9-11 11-3 11-10 victory.

Somerset-based Barrington will now meet Pakistan's No4 seed Mansoor Zaman, who survived a close encounter with compatriot Shamsul Islam Khan 10-11 11-10 10-11 11-7 11-6.

England's top seed Adrian Grant was given a stern test by 14-year-old Pakistani qualifier Aamir Atlas Khan, a nephew of the legendary squash player Jansher Khan. The talented teenager twice led the experienced left-hander from London, but world No15 Grant ultimately proved the better player as he claimed his 7-11 11-6 8-11 11-6 11-4 win.

His opponent in the semi-finals will be Mansoor's cousin Shahid Zaman, the No3 seed who fought back from 1/2 down, then survived two tie-breaks, to beat England's Alex Stait 11-9 9-11 8-11 11-10 11-10.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4
[3] Shahid Zaman (PAK) bt Alex Stait (ENG) 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-10, 11-10
[4] Mansoor Zaman (PAK) bt Shamsul Islam Khan (PAK) 10-11, 11-10, 10-11, 11-7, 11-6
[6] Joey Barrington (ENG) bt [2] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-10