Shabana Survives US Open Scare

Four-time world champion Amr Shabana had to use all his guile and experience to survive the onslaught from Hong Kong's No1 player Max Lee in the second round of the Delaware Investments US Open. The Egyptian scraped his way into the quarter-finals of the PSA World Series event at Drexel University in Philadelphia after an epic 78-minute encounter.

"Max seemed very powerful on court tonight and all credit to him for the fight he put up as I needed every second of my experience to beat him today," said Shabana after his 12-10, 13-15, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8 victory.

"We played at the British Open and I think he definitely learnt few things from that match but I was pleased with how I dug in as it shows that I still have some fight left in me at my age."

Former world number one Shabana now meets compatriot Omar Mosaad, the No7 seed.

"Omar is a player who is up and coming and already banging on the door of the top eight players. He's incredibly strong and it will be a tough match," added the fourth seed.

World champion Nick Matthew booked his place in the quarter-finals with a 3/0 win over Guernsey's Chris Simpson during the second day of second round action.

Englishman Matthew was forced to produce some of his best squash against the spirited Simpson - who came into the second round following a 3/0 demolition of South African Shaun le Roux - before eventually emerging an 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 winner in the battle of Commonwealth Games flag bearers.

"I really enjoyed that battle," said 34-year-old Matthew. "It seems to be a familiar tale for me to be hanging in against Chris at the end of the third game and you could see he was desperate to take that one.

"I've not had a match at that pace for a while now and it did wonders for me and really opened up my lungs.

"I have a day off to now to enjoy and do some work with my coach on a few areas and prepare for the next match."

Matthew will now face Egyptian Fares Dessouki in Thursday's quarter-finals, after the 20-year-old saved five match balls against Karim Abdel Gawad to complete a remarkable comeback and secure his place in the last eight.