RESULTS: Qatar Squash Classic, Doha, Qatar
Men's 2nd round:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [15] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (34m)
[7] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 (40m)
[3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [11] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (39m)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [Q] Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-5, 11-7, 11-0 (26m)
[5] David Palmer (AUS) bt [14] Stewart Boswell (AUS) 12-10, 11-9, 12-10 (54m)
[4] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [13] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (44m)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-4, 11-3, 1-11, 11-3 (41m)
[16] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9 (53m)
Women's 2nd round:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [11] Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) 11-9, 11-6, 12-10 (28m)
[7] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [16] Tania Bailey (ENG) 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 (54m)
[4] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [14] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 11-3, 11-8, 11-6 (23m)
Engy Kheirallah (EGY) bt [10] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 11-6, 11-1, 7-11, 11-9 (45m)
[5] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [15] Camille Serme (FRA) 11-4, 11-5, 11-8 (36m)
[3] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [13] Samantha Teran (MEX) 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (26m)
[9] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [8] Kasey Brown (AUS) 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5 (41m)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [12] Annie Au (HKG) 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 (24m)
Pakistan teenager Aamir Atlas Khan celebrated the best win of his career when he beat second seed Gregory Gaultier in the second round of the Qatar Classic to deny the new world number one from France a place in the quarter-finals of the $147,500 PSA World Tour Super Series squash event at Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in the Qatar capital Doha for the first time since 2003.
Gaultier, who has reached eight Tour final in the past 12 months, moved to the top of the PSA world rankings at the beginning of this month. The 26-year-old from Aix-en-Provence recovered from losing the first game to draw level - then dropped the third game in a tie-break.
But Atlas Khan, the 19-year-old 16th seed from Peshawar, was playing the best squash of his life and maintained his focus to record his 11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9 victory after 53 minutes.
"This is the biggest moment of my career," Khan told www.squashsite.co.uk afterwards. "I really didn’t expect it, because Greg has been playing so well recently - he is such a great champion."
Aamir, the son of British Amateur Championship finalist Atlas Khan and a nephew of former world number one Jansher Khan, is Pakistan's top-ranked player after reaching a career-high world No13 ranking in September.
"Today, I spoke with my dad on the phone right before the match, and he told me, 'listen, you can win this - you’ve got the talent, you’ve got the stamina'. I kept focusing on that during the whole match, and thinking how lucky I was to belong to such a Squash family. And that really carried me through."
Khan will now face eighth seed Peter Barker for a place in the semi-finals. The left-hander from London defeated unseeded Finn Olli Tuominen 11-4, 11-3, 1-11, 11-3.
Egypt's unseeded Engy Kheirallah maintained her progress in the women's $74,000 WISPA World Tour event. The 27-year-old from Cairo, who ousted her country's number one Omneya Abdel Kawy in the first round, battled for 45 minutes to beat France's 10th seed Isabelle Stoehr 11-6, 11-1, 7-11, 11-9 to reach the Doha quarter-finals for the first time.
Back at the venue where she won the title in 2004 and 2005, Dutch star Vanessa Atkinson recorded a notable upset when she beat eight-seeded Australian Kasey Brown. Now combining her squash career with studies for an English Literature degree at University in Leeds in the UK, the ninth seed despatched Brown 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Australia's No2 seed Rachael Grinham.
Men's quarter-final line-up:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) v [7] Thierry Lincou (FRA)
[3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [6] James Willstrop (ENG)
[4] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [5] David Palmer (AUS)
[16] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) v [8] Peter Barker (ENG)
Women's quarter-final line-up:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) v [7] Laura Massaro (ENG)
[4] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v Engy Kheirallah (EGY)
[3] Alison Waters (ENG) v [5] Madeline Perry (IRL)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v [9] Vanessa Atkinson (NED)