RESULTS: Sky Open, Cairo, Egypt

2nd round (top half of draw):
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (35m)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 (43m)
[4] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [10] David Palmer (AUS) 11-8, 12-10, 13-11 (57m)
[6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [15] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-8, 2-11, 11-5, 11-4 (71m)


Two of Cairo's most celebrated squash players took their anticipated places in the quarter-finals of the $150,000 Sky Open when Ramy Ashour and Karim Darwish prevailed in straight games in their second round matches in the third - and biggest so far this year - PSA Super Series 2010 event at the Egyptian's capital's Sky Petrosport Club.

Darwish, the 28-year-old fourth seed who spent all but one month last year at the top of the PSA world rankings, faced distinguished Australian David Palmer, a veteran of more than 50 World Tour finals and also a former world number one.

With 14 previous Tour meetings to their credit, the pair's head-to-head tally was poised on seven wins apiece before Darwish and Palmer began their Sky Open encounter.

Two of the games went to tie-breaks, but it was defending champion Darwish who ultimately prevailed 11-8, 12-10, 13-11 in 57 minutes to extend his winning run over the 33-year-old from New South Wales to five matches since May 2008.

In a repeat of last year's final, Darwish now faces Gregory Gaultier, the Frenchman who succeeded him as world number one last November. The sixth seed from Aix-en-Provence boasted a 5/1 head-to-head lead over 15th seed Cameron Pilley before the match - but it was the Australian who came through in their last meeting earlier this year in the Swedish Open.

But Gaultier, still looking to reproduce the form which took him to the top of the world rankings, battled for 71 minutes to regain his authority over his tall opponent, winning 11-8, 2-11, 11-5, 11-4.

Ramy Ashour is the reigning world number one - but the 22-year-old 'King of Cairo' is still looking for his first Super Series title of the year, and moved comfortably towards that goal with an 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 victory over unseeded Saurav Ghosal, the 23-year-old world No27 from Chennai who has become India's highest-ranked player of all-time.

Ashour now faces the year's first Super Series event champion James Willstrop, the fifth-seeded Englishman who beat the Egyptian in the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions final in New York.

Willstrop eased past his second Egyptian in the event, beating unseeded Mohd Ali Anwar Reda 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 in 43 minutes.

Remaining 2nd round line-up:
[7] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [14] Alister Walker (ENG)
[3] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [12] Wael El Hindi (EGY)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) v [13] Adrian Grant (ENG)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [11] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)