Four-game victories by Nick Matthew and James Willstrop in the quarter-finals of the Delaware Investments US Open will ensure an English finalist in the fifth PSA World Series squash event of the year at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Top seed Matthew, the 31-year-old world number one from Sheffield, faced rising PSA World Tour star Mohamed El Shorbagy, the 20-year-old Egyptian who earlier in the day celebrated a career-high world No8 ranking.
Despite winning 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6 in 65 minutes, the Englishman later told the official event website www.usopensquash.com that the match had made him feel "old and slow"!
Errors were the seventh seed's undoing in the early part of the match as he lost the opening game - but El Shorbagy rallied well in the second - forcing a couple of errors from the Englishman at the end to draw level.
For the rest of the match it was the Egyptian who was always behind, under the pressure that Matthew's pace and early taking of the ball puts his opponents under.
Matthew's victory avenged the loss to the young Egyptian in their previous meeting - in the Canary Wharf Classic in London more than two years ago.
"He seemed to decide he could take me on down the backhand wall, and he got the better of that battle in the second," admitted Matthew. "But that effort maybe took something out of him, he wasn't able to press as hard after that.
"He's like all the Egyptians though, they can score two or three quick points out of nowhere, whereas we English like to build the rallies more, so you have to be on your toes all the time," added the Yorkshireman.
"I managed to keep the momentum for most of the match, and he was having to work harder than me, but he still managed to make me feel old and slow at times! He'll be around for a long time, well after I've gone, and he'll be a nightmare to play."
Later, fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop set up the next instalment in the England team-mates' career-long rivalry by earning a semi-final clash with Matthew.
The world No4 from Leeds took on another Englishman with whom he also has a long rivalry - stretching back to their junior days. But since his first Tour meeting with Peter Barker in February 2003, Willstrop had enjoyed 12 successive victories - until their most recent, at the Canary Wharf Classic in March, when the Londoner claimed his first win.
Third seed Willstrop made a good start, going 5-1 and then 7-3 up in the first - but Barker, the fifth seed, struck back with eight points in a row to take the opening game.
From three-all in the second, it was Willstrop's turn to string points together as he pulled away from 7-4 to draw level.
Willstrop maintained the advantage by taking the third, and stemmed a fightback by Barker in the fourth to close out the match 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 after 63 minutes.
"It was just a tough, hard, game," said Willstrop. "You can't expect to win 3/0 every time so when I lost the first, I just kept on playing my game.
"You have to work it out, it's a mental and a physical battle, we were both getting control of the 'T' at times and matches like that come down to very fine margins but I managed to take the important points tonight.
"I'm feeling pretty fit at the moment, but then we've had a summer's training and the season's only just begun. If you don't feel fit at the moment you've got no chance."
RESULTS: PSA World Series Delaware Investments US Open, Philadelphia, USA
Quarter-finals (top half of draw):
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [7] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6 (65m)
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [5] Peter Barker (ENG) 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (63m)
More details on the Official Website: www.usopensquash.com
For all the latest Tour news: www.psaworldtour.com