Rampant Rosner Downs Darwish In New York

Underdog Simon Rosner, the world No13 from Germany, put in an emphatic performance in the second round of the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions to record a comprehensive straight games victory over Egypt's world No6 Karim Darwish in the first PSA World Series squash event of the year at Grand Central Terminal in New York.

Rosner showed class, composure and control to come through 11-2, 12-10, 11-5 in a 45-minute encounter in what was only his second ever PSA World Series win over the former world number one from Cairo.

"I'm very pleased with how I played tonight - I think that was one of the biggest scalps of my career so far," said Rosner.

"I ended 2013 with a great win in Kuwait and my momentum has really been going since then and I think I played a solid, aggressive game tonight with few mistakes which was important."

The 26-year-old from Paderborn will now face world No2 Gregory Gaultier in the quarter-finals on Wednesday after the top-seeded Frenchman despatched Botswana's Alister Walker 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 in his second round match.

"The win is important but the performance is a huge confidence boost and I'm really looking forward to the next game now," continued Rosner.

"I can go into the game with Greg without any pressure as he is the favourite and those are sometimes the best games to play as you can relax a little more."

Eighth seed Daryl Selby booked his place in the quarter-finals after beating fellow Englishman Chris Simpson 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 in 71 minutes to line up against Mohamed Elshorbagy, the No3 seed from Egypt.

Elshorbagy recovered from a game down to defeat compatriot Tarek Momen 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 in 63 minutes.

"Chris has had a few good wins in recent months so I knew going into the game that it would be tough so I'm very happy to get through," said Selby.

"I think I played well in the first game and just managed to sneak the second game and that made a big difference - 2/0 is very different to 1/1 and it could have gone either way.

"He picked it up in the third game but I'm fairly happy with how I played," added the world No10 from Essex. "I didn't use the front of the court like I should and that's something I'll have to address before playing Mohamed.

"He's in the top four and deservedly so, he's been playing fantastically well for the last year or so. He handles himself well on and off court as well so I think it will be a good match.

"He's never been past the quarter-finals here before though so hopefully my experience can help me a bit against him and I'm looking forward to it."

Image courtesy of SquashPics.com