Strong performances give Willstrop hope

The 30-year-old Yorkshireman spent 48 minutes on court at the National Squash Centre against ninth seed Borja Golan – his longest match yet – as he ran out a comfortable 11-4 11-8 11-6 winner.

The third seed and former world No 1 has yet to drop a game in the event and will next meet Egypt’s Mohamed Elshorbagy, the sixth seed, in the quarter-finals after he beat Germany’s Simon Rosner 11-1 11-9 11-7.

Willstrop’s form and the strength of his three wins so far suggest he may be perfectly-placed to lift the sport’s most coveted crown for the first time, having finished runner-up to fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew in 2010.

Matthew was also in action yesterday, dropping his first game of the tournament as he saw off the considerable threat from Egypt’s Omar Mosaad – extending his winning streak over his opponent to eight games.

The Sheffield-born fourth seed was on court for 71 minutes for his 11-4 11-7 11-13 11-4 victory and will tonight face eighth seed and four-time winner Amr Shabana, who beat Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez 11-6 11-5 11-9 to reach the quarter-finals.

It is expected that defending champion and world No 1 Ramy Ashour will be waiting for the winner of Matthew’s quarter-final against Shabana, should he see off the challenge of India’s Saurav Ghosal, who became the first player from his country to reach the quarter-finals of the event after a dramatic 5-11 8-11 11-8 11-4 11-2 win over Finland’s Henrik Mustonen.

Ghosal – coached by Malcolm Willstrop at Pontefract – hopes his run in Manchester can inspire other players from India to follow in his footsteps.

“Personally for me it’s a massive achievement,” said Ghosal. “It’s the first time I’ve made it this far.

“But hopefully this will give some impetus to the Indian players coming behind me and encourage them to keep playing well and working hard.”