Willstrop exits early in Manchester

The 27-year-old world No 4, from Leeds, had been expected by many to reach the last four but went down 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 to the world No 17, who will face fifth seed Amr Shabana, from Egypt.

Grant showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with and built up a 5-2 lead in the opening game before Willstrop fought back to move 6-5 up. The underdog recovered the momentum to move to game-ball at 10-6 - but again Yorkshireman Willstrop battled back to win six points in a row to capture the first game.

Midway through the second, Grant fell to the floor after turning on his ankle. His three-minute injury break was extended when it became clear that the thumb on his left hand was also bleeding.

Seemingly unaffected by the break, Grant went on to win the next two games - and in the fourth, rallied back from 5-7 down to win six straight points to pull off the biggest victory since his layoff.

“The first three or four points seemed a bit laboured and I think I panicked when I saw him coming back,” said a delighted Grant.

“But in the second, I stuck to a solid game-plan and by the fourth, I could see he was an inch or two behind - I was snapping at everything and it all came off. But you can’t relax with James - when he’s down he can still be lethal.”

Sheffield’s world No 1 Nick Matthew made it through to the quarter-finals, easily seeing off the challenge of Egypt’s Mohd Ali Anwar Reda 11-5, 11-4, 11-4.

Matthew, top seed for an event he missed due to a bout of food poisoning the night before his first round match last year, will now meet fellow Englishman Peter Barker, who defeated Malaysia’s Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-4, 11-9, 11-6.

As expected, second seed and world No 2 Ramy Ashour maintained his march to the final in the bottom half of the draw, but he was made to work hard by Australian Cameron Pilley before finishing on top, winning 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-3. He will now face France’s Gregory Gaultier in a quarter-final on Friday evening.

Gaultier could be forgiven for feeling like the odd man out with English and Egyptian taking up the other seven quarter-final berths - a situation given added interest considering the recent World Team Championships in Germany which saw Egypt triumph over an England team comprising Matthew, Barker and Willstrop.