Matthew and Willstrop out but Duncalf hangs in

SHEFFIELD'S Nick Matthew crashed to his first defeat in six months and must now wait to see if his world No 1 ranking disappears with it.

The 30-year-old has won five PSA world tour titles in a row and was crowned the world's leading player back in June.

But a win at the Hong Kong Open for world No 2 Ramy Ashour, from Egypt, the man Matthew replaced at the top, will see the Yorkshireman drop down a place.

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Matthew's hopes of making it six straight Tour titles disappeared when he lost to fellow Englishman Peter Barker 3-11 11-8 11-5 11-5 in the quarter-finals of the $147,500 event in Kowloon.

Matthew had beaten Barker on the eight previous occasions the two had met but, troubled by an ankle injury sustained in the second game, the favourite was finally denied.

"It's tough to take, losing after six months, especially when it's partly because your body lets you down," said Matthew.

"He may have beaten me anyway, who knows, but it's still tough to take."

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With Ashour later defeating Leeds's James Willstrop 11-5 11-8 11-9 in the last eight, the Egyptian knows he just two wins away from regaining the coveted No 1 slot.

Harrogate's world No 2 Jenny Duncalf had to come through a 79-minute five-game marathon against eighth seed Kasey Brown in yesterday's quarter-finals of the $74,000 women's event.

Duncalf – who will now meet London's Alison Waters in Saturday's semi-finals – came through 10-12 11-7 11-9 11-13 11-8 and said: "I had game balls in both the games I lost, which was a bit of a downer, especially the first, but I managed to regroup."

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