Quarter-Finals:

Tarek Momen bt Chris Simpson
         8/11, 11/4, 12/10, 13/11 (53m)
Shahier Razik bt Aaron Frankcomb
         11/7, 11/1, 11/4 (38m)
Tom Richards bt Yasir Butt
         13/11, 11/7, 8/11, 8/11, 11/8 (77m)
Omar Mosaad bt Stefan Casteleyn
         11/6, 11/8, 11/3 (33m)

Top seeds make KIG semis ...

The top four seeds will contest the semi-finals of the inaugural KIG Open at the LAAC in Downtown Los Angeles after contrasting victories in tonight's quarter-finals.

Top seed Tarek Momen was pushed all the way by England's Chris Simpson, the Egyptian winning two extra-point games to prevail in a match that could have gone either way.

His semi-final opponent will be Canadian third seed Shahier Razik who, after a tough opening game, cruised to victory over Aaron Frankcomb who had little to give in the later stages after a marathon victory yesterday.

Englishman Tom Richards needed five games to quell the attacking game of Pakistan's Yasir Butt, and the fourth seed faces Egypt's Omar Mosaad for a place in the final.

Mosaad, seeded two, maintained a furiously fast pace that was too much for LAAC Club Pro Stefan Casteleyn to disappoint the home crowd.

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Extras #3, Downtown

"It was just that counter drop that let me down, I missed two in the third and one in the fourth and they were crucial.

"I was surprised how well I moved, I was really sore from the hard floors, but he moved pretty well too.

"I felt like I played the right shots at the right time through the whole match, I just clipped the tin or put it loose a few many times on the crucial points."

Tarek Momen bt Chris Simpson
         8/11, 11/4, 12/10, 13/11 (53m)

Tarek edges through

When top seed Tarek Momen raced into a 6/1 lead in the opening game it looked as though we might be in for a quick opening match to the evening.

The Egyptian did prevail, but that early passage was a phoney war, from that point on Chris Simpson pushed Tarek to the edge, rally after rally, game after game.

The Englishman fought back strongly to take the opener, but it was the Egyptian on top again in the second, with Chris apparently suffering a problem with his foot towards the end of the game.

It didn't hamper him for long though, as he took charge of the third, earning himself a trio of game balls at 10/7. All three went begging though, three tins, two of them which would have been winning drops.

Tarek didn't need a second invitation as he took the next two points, despite some desperate retrieving from Chris, to take the lead. Tarek took the early advantage in the fourth, 4/2, 6/4, 7/5, 8/6, but again Chris fought back, levelling at 8-all.

A mid-court collision sent Chris sprawling, which gave us the intriguing sight of referee Stéphane Galifi standing at the court door arguing his no-let decision with Chris, an argument he was on the other side of last night!

Long story short (that's how they say it here) Tarek finally took the win on his fourth match ball, sending a volley to die into the back corner with Chris's retrieving finally running out of steam.

A typical 'could have gone either way' type of match, in other words

"Something was wrong today, as soon as I came out of my room I felt faint and my legs felt as if they were going to cramp, I was feeling like it was in the fifth but I felt like it from the first point.

"I went 6/1 up so quickly in the first, I thought ok let's hope it carries on like this, but he came back and won that. I played well in the second, but I still wasn't feeling right, then when he was having trouble with his foot I was just hoping he'd have to quit, but he came back again!

"I was in big trouble in the third, he had three chances to win it and I just had to hang in there, I couldn't find a solution.

"He played amazingly, but made some fateful mistakes at the end of games which gave me the win really.

"I'm happy I kept pushing myself, and I hope I feel better than this tomorrow because this won't do, I was very lucky to win today."

Shahier Razik bt Aaron Frankcomb
         11/7, 11/1, 11/4 (38m)

Razik races through

True to his promise of yesterday ("I'm through with those marathon matches"), third seed Shahier Razik again won in straight games, again in short time, to reach the semi-finals relatively fresh.

The opening rallies were as tough as expected though, with Aaron Frankcomb matching the Canadian point for point all the way up to seven-all.

But from then on Shahier took charge, reeled off the next four points, took total command in the second and not far short of that in the third.

It became pretty obvious that Aaron wasn't going to be able to mount another comeback like last night's, those 107 minutes had taken their toll.

Nevertheless, Shahier brought plenty of oohs and aahs from the crowd with some lovely attacking play, particularly volley drops from deep.

"I was sort of adjusting to the court in the beginning, I played on the other one last night and they're quite different.

I was conscious of trying to keep it long and hard at the start, he had a much tougher match than me yesterday and I was sort of hoping he wouldn't be up for another two hour session.

"It was nice to hear the crowd hollering for some of my winners, it doesn't happen that often!

"It's good to get through to the semis with a bit in the legs, I'll need all that energy tomorrow against Mr Momen, he'll be flying around that court, for sure ..."

Tom Richards bt Yasir Butt
         13/11, 11/7, 8/11, 8/11, 11/8 (77m)

Tom digs in

Phew, what an intense match that was. Yasir Butt was intent on attacking from the word go, letting no opportunity to fire the ball in go, while Tom Richards was, for a large part of the match, just trying to hang in there, but was doing it very well indeed.

The Englishman had to come from 8/10 down to take the first, with Yasir breaking the strings in two rackets during extra points. "Last one," he declared as he took the third onto court.

Tom made a good start in the second and held on to double his advantage, but Yasir's annoyance with himself for a couple of crucial tins suggested the Pakistani wasn't finished yet.

And sure enough the attacks started going in during the third and fourth games. Yasir never built up enough of a lead to be comfortable, but he held on to them nevertheless, despite Tom's best efforts, as the pace stayed high throughout.

The Englishman made a good start to the decider, quickly going 4/0 up and it proved decisive as he kept Yasir on a tight leash, advancing to 6/2, 8/5, then 10/7. He tinned on the first match ball, was wrongfooted by a crosscourt drive on the second, but put in a dropshot that was just too tight for Yasir on the third, and raised his arms in delight, and relief.

"In the first two games the ball was really bouncy, he was trying to attack and I was maybe a bit defensive, but I was happy that I really dug i mentally in those two.

"In the third and fourth I got bad starts, but he was really firing it in and playing with a lot of confidence.

"I the fifth I just dug in, tried to win the match by playing straight and not giving him any cheap points, which I did apart from my first match ball.

"It was a very enjoyable match, very fair, we were both playing well, good fast squash for 77 minutes!"

Omar Mosaad bt Stefan Casteleyn
         11/6, 11/8, 11/3 (33m)

Fast and Furious

Before the final match of the evening a few interested parties were discussing the possibilities. The consensus was that Omar would probably be too fast and strong for club favourite Stefan Casteleyn, but the possibility of the Belgian ex-world #7 finding a way to win was certainly not discounted.

The first four points supported the second theory, but after that the Egyptian was pretty much in control.

The pace was fast and relentless, at times frantic, neither of them was going to let a ball reach the back if they could possibly help it, and at that game Omar was better.

Stefan made a valiant effort to stay with it, recovering from 5/8 to 8-all in the second, but Omar pressed the accelerator again to take the game and kept it pressed hard down as he raced through the third.

"He plays way too fast for me, I don't have time to react. I just had to try to stick with it, but every time he picked up the pace I was in trouble again.

"I was feeling good but I just couldn't cope, too hard, too fast."