Perry & Elias Produce Mighty Upsets In San Francisco

England's world No.6 Sarah-Jane Perry and Peruvian world No.17 Diego Elias upset the seedings on the day three of the 2017 Oracle NetSuite Open after scoring sensational victories over English duo Laura Massaro and Nick Matthew, respectively, on the stunning glass showcourt on Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco.

Elias, 20, and Matthew, 37 were the youngest and oldest players, respectively, in the main draw of the men's event and the pair played out an incredible opening game which saw Matthew prevail 19-17 after 32 dramatic minutes of play.

But the brutal nature of that game took its toll on the distinguished Yorkshireman as Elias claimed wins in the next three games to reach the semi-finals courtesy of a 17-19, 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 victory in 68 minutes.

The defeat brings an end to Matthew's last ever NetSuite Open appearance after last week's announcement that he will retire from the sport at the end of the season.

"I just wanted to do my best today, although I knew it was his last year and I didn't want to beat him," said Elias, who also reached the event's last four last year.

"I was playing my best but he's an idol for me and I've always looked up to him ever since I was a little kid, so playing him here and having the opportunity to play this amazing game with him was very special for me and I'm really happy to win.

"This is my lucky tournament, I was in the semis last year and I love playing here. The crowd are amazing, I've had an amazing tournament and I want to keep playing like this, I hope I can keep winning here."

Elias will take on World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad for a place in the final after the world No.2 defeated fellow Egyptian Tarek Momen in four games.

Gawad looked out of sorts in the opening stages and struggled to deal with the cold conditions on a dead court, making several errors as Momen took the opener for the loss of four points.

The top seed from Giza completely changed things around in the second game - dropping five points en route to victory, while capitalising on a loss of focus from Momen in the third to come back from 7-3 down before closing out the fourth to seal a 4-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 triumph.

"It's harder to play one of your best mates and he's like a brother to me," said Gawad.

"I grew up watching him and I remember him playing one of the other Egyptian guys and I was so impressed and now we're here playing and competing together. We had been playing at the same club for 10 years, I've moved to another club now but we still train together and are very close.

"It's always tough to play such a physical and gifted opponent."

The first women's semi-final also took place and saw Perry claim her first PSA World Tour win over defending champion and England teammate Massaro to reach the NetSuite Open final for the second time in three years.

Perry and Massaro, the world No.4, were partners in the WSF World Doubles Championships earlier this year but were going head-to-head for the fourth time on the Tour with Perry failing to take more than a game in all of their previous meetings.

But the underdog held off Massaro in San Francisco to take an 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 victory which will see her take on either Malaysia's eight-time World Champion Nicol David or India's world No.21 Dipika Pallikal Karthik in the final.

"I have beaten her once before but it wasn't on the Tour, so it's the first time I've beaten her on the Tour," said Perry - whose 2015 victory over Massaro saw her become the British National champion for the first time.

"I probably had a bit of a mental block against Laura over the last few matches and she's had a really good game plan against me, executed it perfectly and left me very, very frustrated.

"I played some really good squash, Laura played some really fantastic squash, so I'm really happy to come out with a win against a really tough opponent."