Matthew still on course to defend world crown

The man behind the 31-year-old world No 1’s exhaustion was Egypt’s Mohamed El Shorbagy, who pushed Matthew hard before succumbing to a 8/11, 11/5, 11/9, 5/11, 11/1 by the Yorkshireman.

A subsequent victory by Peter Barker over Cameron Pilley in the final match of the day means Matthew will line-up once again in Friday’s quarter-final against his good friend and fellow Englishman.

Leeds’s James Willstrop will hope to join them in the last eight when he takes on Morwan El Shorbagy in his third round match on Thursday afternoon.

After spending more than 100 minutes on court, Matthew admitted he needed a day off to recover from what he conceded was one of the toughest examinations he had faced on court in recent months.

“It’s a bit of a blur right now, certainly the hardest match I’ve played for a long time,” said Matthew shortly after his five-game thriller.

“Yes, I have a day off tomorrow but I’ll freaking need it after that!

I always said this will be like two separate tournaments, up to the quarters, and then, take the top eight and start all over again - I’ll have to be much more clinical.”

Matthew paid tribute to his opponent, in particular his desire to compete for every point.

“He is such a talented player, I was impressed with the way he came out from the Team Championship, he emerged there, and today again, he had that fire in the belly, that killer instinct.

“In the fifth game, I’m not exactly sure what happened, I think it was more down to him than me. He is a tremendous player and was incredibly patient for four games, the most patient I ever saw him play, but suddenly he went for a few more shots, perhaps a bit too early.

“It was hard - more mentally than physically - and even at the end, when I was way up, 7-1, 8-1, I kept on repeating myself, one point at a time, because it would have been so easy for him to string a few points together.

In the women’s draw, Jenny Duncalf spent almost an hour on court before seeing off New Zealand’s Joelle King 11-8, 7-11, 11-1, 11-3

The world No 2, from Harrogate, is hoping to put a number of recently disappointing early exits behind her and said she felt the best she had on court for a long time. She now faces fellow Englishwoman Laura Massaro in Friday’s quarter-final stages.

“After the first two games I felt pretty well in control, and I enjoyed it in the end, which I haven’t felt after a match for a while now,” said Duncalf. “I felt comfortable as this is where I play my Dutch leagues and having a big noisy crowd always helps.

“I felt as good on court today as I have for a while, but Laura’s beaten me the last couple of times so I hope I can carry on from where I left off today.”