Nicol Races Into Hungarian Open Semis

It took England's former world No1 Peter Nicol just 22 minutes to beat compatriot Daryl Selby in the quarter-finals in the Dunlop Hungarian Open - thus dashing hopes of further progress in the PSA Tour event of the qualifier who dismissed Pakistan's eighth seed Shahid Zaman in the first round in the Hungarian capital Budapest.

Nicol, the 32-year-old top seed from London who has won two titles since finding a new appetite for the sport over the summer, crushed Selby 11-0 11-9 11-0 and now goes on to meet France's Gregory Gaultier for a place in the final.

Gaultier, the fifth seed from Aix-en-Provence, beat unseeded Egyptian Mohammed Abbas - who upset fourth seed John White in the first round - 11-7 11-5 11-9 in 57 minutes.

The other semi-final features the second and third seeds - but the players reached the last four in contrasting styles. England's James Willstrop, the No3 seed, swept past Finland's seventh seed Olli Tuominen 11-6 11-8 11-3 in 35 minutes.

But, in a repeat of last month's Heliopolis Open final in the pair's home town of Cairo, Amr Shabana had to fight back from a game down to overcome Karim Darwish, the sixth seed, 10-11 11-2 11-6 11-10 in 52 minutes.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt [Q] Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-0, 11-9, 11-0 (22m)
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 (57m)
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [7] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 (35m)
[2] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [6] Karim Darwish (EGY) 10-11 (1-3), 11-2, 11-6, 11-10 (2-0) (52m)