Egypt's Andrew Wagih Shoukry became the only unseeded player to make the semi-finals of the Nash Cup in Canada after a five-game quarter-final victory in the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event at London Squash Rackets Club in London, Ontario.
It was in the opening round that the 20-year-old from Cairo made his breakthrough - upsetting fourth-seeded Englishman Joe Lee in four games.
But Shoukry then had to fight back from two games down to take out a second Englishman, Olivier Pett 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 in 78 minutes.
"I have done a lot of work on my fitness and feel like I can compete with the better players now," explained the world No71. "My coach Hossam has done some great work with me and I thank him for that. I felt I made far too many errors in the first games but Oli played well and forced me to try things.
"Oli doesn't play your typical English game - he plays more like us (Egyptians). He moves the ball around well. I'm very happy and can't wait for tomorrow!"
Shoukry now faces Jan Koukal, the No2 seed from the Czech Republic. The Czech champion beat rising Canadian star Andrew Schnell 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.
"I watched Andrew play in the world teams and he played well so I knew I needed to be on my game tonight," said world No48 Koukal. "It was tough and there were a lot of hard rallies. There was not a great deal of difference between us tonight. I just felt I played the big points better."
There is local interest in the other semi-final where third seed Shawn Delierre takes on top-seeded New Zealander Martin Knight.
Delierre, the world No54 from Montreal, survived his quarter-final when English qualifier Eddie Charlton conceded the match at 9-11, 11-8, 11-3.
"I was up all night vomiting and felt really weak going into the match - I couldn't even warm up properly," explained Charlton later. "I sneaked the first by slowing the game down and was close in the second but then I was spent.
"I hate retiring from a match as I believe that when you step on court, you should see it through but I really had nothing left and didn't want to make it worse. Credit to Shawn though, he is looking good."
Knight despatched Canadian qualifier David Letourneau 11-4, 11-2, 11-4.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 Nash Cup, London, Ontario, Canada
1st round:
[1] Martin Knight (NZL) bt Scott Arnold (AUS) 11-4, 11-6, 9-11, 11-1 (56m)
[Q] David Letourneau (CAN) bt Charles Sharpes (ENG) 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 (57m)
[Q] Eddie Charlton (ENG) bt Zac Alexander (AUS) 11-9, 13-11, 20-18 (60m)
[3] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt Yann Perrin (FRA) 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 (62m)
Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) bt [4] Joe Lee (ENG) 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4 (45m)
Olivier Pett (ENG) bt Alfredo Avila (MEX) 7-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 (38m)
Andrew Schnell (CAN) bt [Q] Stefan Casteleyn (BEL) 5-5 ret.
[2] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [Q] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) 11-6, 11-2, 9-11, 11-0 (39m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [Q] David Letourneau (CAN) 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (41m)
[3] Shawn Delierre (CAN) bt [Q] Eddie Charlton (ENG) 9-11, 11-8, 11-3 ret. (44m)
Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) bt Olivier Pett (ENG) 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (78m)
[2] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt Andrew Schnell (CAN) 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 (33m)
Semi-final line-up:
[1] Martin Knight (NZL) v [3] Shawn Delierre (CAN)
[2] Jan Koukal (CZE) v Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY)