World's Top Eight Men To Contest World Open Quarter-Finals In Hong Kong

Appropriately, the world's top eight players will contest the men's quarter-finals of the Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Privilege World Open after successfully overcoming second round opponents in the $170,000 PSA Super Series event today in Hong Kong. Ireland's 10th seed Madeline Perry staged the day's only upset when she defeated England's Jenny Duncalf, the seventh seed, in a 79-minute marathon in the women's WISPA Gold event.

Both of the world's top two players were put under extreme pressure as they battled with fellow countrymen to claim their anticipated places in the last eight. In the longest match of the day, top-seeded title-holder Thierry Lincou twice found himself behind against French compatriot Gregory Gaultier. It was exactly twelve months ago, in the 2004 World Open in Qatar, that the world No1 last faced French No2 Gaultier on the PSA Tour - and the 22-year-old tenth seed was looking for revenge.

But Lincou stuck to his task and after 84 minutes emerged as the 7-11 11-9 8-11 11-4 11-8 victor to reach the quarter-finals for the fourth successive year.

The 29-year-old from Marseille now faces his nemesis Peter Nicol, the Englishman whom he has not beaten since their meeting on the same courts in the Hong Kong Open in 2001. Sixth seed Nicol, the 1999 world champion who this month plunged to a ten-year low No8 in the PSA world rankings, took just 24 minutes to despatch Pakistan's 16th seed Shahid Zaman 11-6 11-8 11-5 to secure his eighth quarter-final berth in the World Open since 1994.

James Willstrop - the eighth seed who is quickly having to adjust to being the new world No2, and also the highest-ranked Englishman in the world list - fell two games behind to fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew. But the recently-crowned Qatar Classic champion fought back against the 12th seed and ultimately clinched his 7-11 9-11 11-4 11-8 11-6 win in 71 minutes.

Willstrop now faces second seed Jonathon Power for the second time this year - but for the first in his career as a player ranked higher than the Canadian. Power ended the run of Australian qualifier Stewart Boswell, beating the newly-promoted world No20 11-8 5-11 11-5 11-9 in 52 minutes.

Madeline Perry has enjoyed a successful year on the WISPA World Tour, reaching four finals and winning the Buler Challenge Cup in Hong Kong and the Irish Open in her home country. The 28-year-old from Craigavon in Northern Ireland stemmed a fight back by Jenny Duncalf to beat the world No8 9-0 9-6 8-10 1-9 9-5 in 79 minutes.

Perry's reward is a quarter-final clash with top seed Rachael Grinham, the Australian who lost her world No1 ranking to Vanessa Atkinson this week. Grinham, who extinguished local interest in the event by beating Hong Kong's Asian Games champion Rebecca Chiu 9-3 9-2 9-7, knows that only by winning the World Open crown for the first time could she be reinstated as the world's top player.

Defending champion Vanessa Atkinson, the second seed, needed 54 minutes to quash France's 13th seed Isabelle Stoehr 9-5 9-10 9-2 9-2. The new world number one now faces England's new world No5 Vicky Botwright, who was taken to five games by compatriot Alison Waters before winning 10-8 9-4 7-9 7-9 9-2 in 73 minutes.

Men's 2nd round:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [10] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 7-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 (84m)
[6] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt [16] Shahid Zaman (PAK) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (24m)
[4] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [11] John White (SCO) 11-6, 11-3, 10-11 (0-2), 11-5 (73m)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [15] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-3, 11-2, 11-8 (29m)
[7] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [9] Karim Darwish (EGY) 11-8, 11-9, 11-3 (35m)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt [13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 (44m)
[8] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [12] Nick Matthew (ENG) 7-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6 (71m)
[2] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [Q] Stewart Boswell (AUS) 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9 (52m)

Women's 2nd round:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [15] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 9-3, 9-2, 9-7 (39m)
[10] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [7] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) 9-0, 9-6, 8-10, 1-9, 9-5 (79m)
[4] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt [12] Annelize Naude (NED) 9-4, 6-9, 9-0, 9-4 (39m)
[8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt Tegwen Malik (WAL) 9-4, 6-9, 9-1, 6-9, 9-3 (50m)
[5] Linda Elriani (ENG) bt [16] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) 9-3, 9-4, 9-6 (43m)
[3] Nicol David (MAS) bt [9] Tania Bailey (ENG) 9-6, 9-5, 9-7 (34m)
[6] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [14] Alison Waters (ENG) 10-8, 9-4, 7-9, 7-9, 9-2 (73m)
[2] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [13] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 9-5, 9-10, 9-2, 9-2 (54m)