Rösner Survives Grasshopper Marathon

Germany's Simon Rösner moved closer to a second successive appearance in the Grasshopper Cup final in Switzerland after surviving a titanic 86-minute quarter-final battle with unseeded Frenchman Gregoire Marche in the PSA M70 event at Puls5 in Zurich.

Despite taking the opening game, Marche - who downed former world No.1 James Willstrop in the first round - was unable to stop 2015 runner-up Rösner coming through 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 16-14 in the match of the tournament.

"I think that was one of the toughest matches that I have played," said world No.9 Rösner, the highest-ranked German of all-time.

"Every time I thought he was tiring he came right back at me and it was an amazing battle but I'm super glad to come through in four. I'm really pleased to be in the semis - after reaching the final last year it is a good achievement to be back in the last four for me.

"He pressured me a lot in the first and was making me do a lot of work and putting me under pressure. I had to really focus on hitting the corners from the second onwards and I think that ultimately made the difference at the end.

"I need to do what I can now to get back on court tomorrow as fresh as possible."

Second seed Rösner will now face Marwan Elshorbagy in the semi-finals after the fourth-seeded Egyptian despatched Australian Cameron Pilley in straight games.

Local hero Nicolas Müller's dreams of Grasshopper glory were abruptly ended by defending champion and world No.2 Gregory Gaultier.

After coming through a thrilling first round encounter with seeded Australian Ryan Cuskelly to set up the surprise last eight battle with Gaultier, Swiss No.1 Müller couldn't find anything in his locker to halt a surge from the reigning world champion and went down 11-4, 11-2, 11-7 to the Frenchman in just 37 minutes.

"It is always tough to play against the local boy - at the end of the day I have to do my job and I was moving better today than in the first round," said Gaultier.

"I had to be very aware of his skills. He had a tough first round match and was maybe a bit drained from that and I took full advantage to counter him and dictate the game.

"Sometimes we travel to places and it can only be players and refs at the first round so it's great to play here in front of a good crowd so it's good to see Switzerland embracing squash."