English Hopes Extinguished In Canary Wharf Quarters

The last four line-up of the Canary Wharf Classic will be bereft of home interest for the first time in the PSA M70 event's 13-year-history after No.7 seed Daryl Selby and four-time champion James Willstrop exited at the quarter-final stage at East Wintergarden in London.

Yorkshireman Willstrop, who came through a thrilling encounter with New Zealander Paul Coll in the previous round, lost out in straight games to third seed Mathieu Castagnet as the world No.10 from France produced an inspired performance full of attacking intent and incredible resilience.

Leading 2/0, the French number two overturned a 3-8 deficit in the third game to reel off six points in a row to clinch the match 11-6, 11-6, 11-9.

"The first two games were similar as they went to 5-5 or 6-6 and then he started to get tired," said Castagnet.

"In the third game, when he was 8-3 up he was playing very good but after a long rally I saw he was tired so I pushed as hard as I could to get back into the game and I'm very happy to come back like that and win."

Castagnet will now take on Australian Cameron Pilley for a place in the final after Germany's No.2 seed Simon Rösner was forced to concede through illness after just two games.

In the top half of the draw, it was top seed Omar Mosaad who triumphed in a tough and testing five-game battle with Selby.

The tall Egyptian stormed into a one-game lead as he played aggressive, attacking squash that was every inch worthy of his top seed billing. But a response from Selby in the second swung the match on its head as they duelled it out for over 70 minutes in a roller-coaster affair that saw momentum swing back and forth throughout before Mosaad ultimately prevailed 11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-5.

"Playing Daryl here in front of his home crowd is very hard," said Mosaad.

"I thought it was going to be easy after the first game and I was up in the second as well but he started to play really well. After coming back from 2/2 I'm very happy to win."

Mosaad's semi-final opponent will be Spain's Borja Golan after the world No.20 defeated Egyptian Fares Dessouki to reach the last four for the first time in his career.

Canary Wharf Classic image courtesy of www.squashpics.com