Squash latest: Sheffield’s Matthew reaches British semi-finals

The world No 1, from Sheffield, set up a last four meeting with Egypt’s Amr Shabana tomorrow after seeing off his 27-year-old opponent 11-5, 15-13, 8-11, 11-7.

Matthew, who had beaten his London-born rival in all but one of their previous 13 meetings, took early control of the match, racing into a 5-0 lead in the first game before Barker even got on the board and eventually closed out in comfort.

It was the second game which was to prove the most crucial and required Matthew’s never-say-die attitude to put himself into a commanding two-game lead, saving two game points before edging out his troublesome England team-mate.

Calls were disputed by both players on a frequent basis and may have knocked Matthew out of his stride in the third as he never looked totally comfortable with Barker coming back to halve the deficit.

The reversal of fortune clearly galvanised Matthew into action and he raced into a 9-2 lead in the fourth, forcing errors from his opponent who saved three match points before Matthew prevailed 11-7 to set up his battle with former world No 1 Shabana, who had seen off England’s Adrian Grant 11-5, 11-6, 12-10 earlkier in the evening.

It was Grant who had knocked out Leeds’s James Willstrop in the second round on Wednesday night.

“They are always difficult games against Pete - he’s always very tough to play against,” said Matthew.

“I think it was the end of the second game which proved crucial with me managing to save a couple of game points and build a 2-0 lead.”

The quarter-final stages are completed today when third seed Karim Darwish takes on fellow Egyptian Omar Mossad, before world No 2 Ashour faces France’s Gregory Gaultier.