England's Tom Richards confounded the seedings of the True North Berkshire Open in the USA when he beat fourth-seeded Canadian Shahier Razik to reach the semi-finals of the PSA World Tour International 25 squash event in its seventh year at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
But 33-year-old Razik, who has recently fallen below the Englishman in the world rankings, was keen to prove the latest PSA list wrong as he battled for 85 minutes to keep Richards at bay on the all-glass court in Williams College's Chandler Gymnasium.
"Richards was so totally in control that it was hard to imagine that it would take another hour for a winner to be determined," said Williams College Head Squash Coach Zafi Levy. "A nearly imperceptible tightening of his defensive length and width, coupled with reducing his unforced errors, put fourth seed Shahier Razik back into the match, eventually forcing a fifth game.
"Still even at seven-all in the final game, Razik just tired ever so slightly at that point to yield four of the next five points relatively quickly and with it the match 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8."
Richards, the world No28 from Surrey, now faces fellow countryman Jonathan Kemp, the No2 seed who ousted Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 11-7, 11-8, 11-5.
In the longest battle for a place in the last four, third-seeded Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez twice recovered leads by Spaniard Borja Golan to beat the former world No10 who is fighting back to full fitness after knee surgery 5-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8 in 94 minutes.
The 25-year-old from Bogota, ranked 25 in the world, now faces top seed Wael El Hindi, the US-based world No16 from Egypt who beat Mexican Arturo Salazar 11-5, 11-6, 11-8.
RESULTS: PSA International 25 True North Berkshire Open, Williamstown, Mass, USA
Quarter-finals:
[1] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Arturo Salazar (MEX) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 5-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8 (94m)
Tom Richards (ENG) bt [4] Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8 (85m)
[2] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 (30m)
Semi-final line-up:
[1] Wael El Hindi (EGY) v [3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
[2] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) v Tom Richards (ENG)