Egyptian champion Ramy Ashour beat Englishman James Willstrop in straight sets to reach the British Open semi-finals on Friday.

It seemed like an easy ride for the two-time World champion who won 11/5, 11/5 and 11/7 in 42 minutes.

Ashour will face Frenchman Gregory Gaultier on Saturday. The latter went through as veteran player Amr Shabana had to quit the game due to injury just after the first set.

Mohamed Elshorbagy beat Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet 3/1 to set up a tie with World number one Nick Matthew.

The English champion ended the adventure of 19-year old Egyptian Fares Dessouki after a brave display 11/4, 12/10 and 11/9.

"It was a bit unusual to play somebody that didn’t have that much experience at such a level of the competition. I had a game plan, a bit rigid, sorry if it wasn’t flamboyant squash. He’s got a few nice tricks, and when he matures, he’ll be hard to beat," Matthew said after the game.

"Shorbagy has got the qualities that comes with youth, and at the same time, a lot of maturity. For me personally, I haven’t reached my best squash yet, and I need to find my stride. As for my world title, that was a lifetime ago!!!! Trust me, Mohamed doesn’t give a…. toss about the fact I’m world champion, or of my ranking or anything.

"He doesn’t care about that kind of things, if he was to play againt Jahangir Khan at his best, he would just play him!" he concluded.

In the women contest, Raneem El-Weleily reached the semis after beating Low Wee Wern 11/5, 11/6 and 11/8.

She will face Laura Massaro from England on Saturday.

Omneya Abdel-Qawy lost to World champion and world number one Nicol David from Malaysia in straight games 11/7, 12/10 and 11/4.
 

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