Champion Ramy Races Into Athens Semis

The Ashour show maintained its momentum in the Cadillac Athens Open when young Ramy Ashour claimed an unexpected place in the semi-finals of the PSA Tour event in the Greek capital after upsetting England's third seed Alister Walker.

Fifth seed Ramy, the 18-year-old defending champion from Cairo, dismissed Walker 11-6 11-9 11-6 in 35 minutes to set up a semi-final meeting with another Englishman, second seed Ben Garner.

The favourite in Athens is Ramy's older brother Hisham Mohd Ashour - who was made to work hard for his place in the last four, beating England's sixth seed Alex Stait in a dramatic five-game encounter which included three tie-breaks.

Ashour senior survived 11-10 11-7 10-11 10-11 11-6, and will fourth seed Ritwik Bhattacharya, the survivor of another five-game quarter-final marathon.

Bhattacharya came through an all-Indian clash with Saurav Ghosal, beating the UK-based seventh seed 11-6 11-8 8-11 7-11 11-9 in 56 minutes.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt [6] Alex Stait (ENG) 11-10 (2-0), 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 10-11 (0-2), 11-6 (52m)
[4] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt [7] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9 (56m)
[5] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [3] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (35m)
[2] Ben Garner (ENG) bt [8] Scott Handley (ENG) 11-10 (4-2), 11-8, 8-11, 11-4 (38m)