Dream ends for Willstrop leaving Matthew to carry White Rose flag

The 30-year-old Yorkshireman – a beaten finalist in 2010 – hadn’t lost a game going into his last eight encounter against sixth seed Mohamed Elshorbagy.

But the third seed quickly found himself 2-0 down to the Egyptian and, despite posting an almost perfect answer in the third game, eventually went out 12-10 11-6 2-11 11-9 – the match-winning point being a let awarded to Shorbagy, a far from ideal way to end such an abosrbing contest that lasted more than 80 minutes.

Willstrop’s unexpected exit, albeit against a player ranked sixth in the world and in such great form, means Sheffield’s Nick Matthew carries the flag for Yorkshire into the weekend, with today’s semi-final against world No 1 and defending champion Ramy Ashour a mouth-watering prospect.

Matthew, the fourth seed, looked impressive in Thursday night’s quarter-final at the Manchester Central venue, when he defeated four-time world champion Amr Shabana in straight games.

Both he and Ashour – who defeated Pontefract-based Saurav Ghosal from India in his quarter-final – are gunning for their third world title, with the Egyptian enjoying the better of the exchanges in recent years.

In 22 meetings between the two players, Ashour enjoys a 15-7 advantage – winning eight of the last nine meetings.

And while the two are destined never to be the best of friends – much like Matthew with Willstrop – there seems to be a healthy respect for each other’s achievements in the game.

“I can’t get too carried away by my win over Amr,” said Matthew, who faces an opponent who is now unbeaten in 49 PSA Tour matches.

“I’ve got to keep my feet on the floor – there are two rounds to go yet.

“I feel I’m in the best shape of my life. I’ve changed one or two things in my training – I’m now doing yoga, for instance.”