Malaysia's Kamran Khan recovered from two games down to beat local hope Rex Hedrick in the Hibiscus Gardens Open to reach the semi-finals of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Hibiscus Gardens Squash Centre in Upper Mount Gravatt, near Brisbane, in Australia.

Khan, the 21-year-old third seed, had to dig deep to overcome 22-year-old Hedrick, from Melbourne, 5-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 in 78 minutes.

"Kamran was down two sets to love, but his tenacious opponent Rex Hedrick ran out of steam and couldn't keep the intensity up that he showed in the first two games," explained tournament organiser Jeffrey Wollstein.

Khan, ranked 82 in the world, will now face world No39 Stephen Coppinger, the top seed from South Africa who despatched England's Chris Truswell 11-3, 11-7, 11-8.

There will be Australian interest in the other semi-final where Mike Corren takes on New Zealander Martin Knight.

Corren, the third seed from South Australia who won his sixth successive PSA Tour title at the ACT Open in Canberra last week, took only 24 minutes to quash Canadian Fred Reid 11-8, 11-6, 11-9.

Second seed Knight ended Leo Au's brave run, beating the Hong Kong qualifier 12-10, 11-4, 11-7.

RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 Hibiscus Gardens Open, Upper Mount Gravatt, Brisbane, Australia

Quarter-finals:
[1] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt Chris Truswell (ENG) 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 (37m)
[3] Kamran Khan (MAS) bt Rex Hedrick (AUS) 5-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 (78m)
[4] Mike Corren (AUS) bt Fred Reid (CAN) 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 (24m)
[2] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [Q] Leo Au (HKG) 12-10, 11-4, 11-7 (42m)

Semi-final line-up:
[1] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v [3] Kamran Khan (MAS)
[2] Martin Knight (NZL) v [4] Mike Corren (AUS)