Darwish and Willstrop home in on Qatar final!

James Willstrop (ENG) beat Peter Barker (ENG) 6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 13-11 in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Classic 2011 (photo: SquashSite)

Karim Darwish and James Willstrop (pic ri), now the highest 2 seeds left in the Qatar Classic draw. Willstrop, the 4th seed from England, had to recover from a game down to beat his England team-mate Peter Barker (pic le) 6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 13-11. The 1st match promised another upset when unseeded Swiss star Nicolas Mueller raced into an 11-2 and 4-1 lead over Darwish, the 3rd seeded defending champion. The Egyptian settled, and dominated from that point on to win 2-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4. There was to be no further upset for Egypt’s Tarek Momen, who after his explosive dismissal of top seed Nick Matthew, found 6th seed Greg Gaultier a step too far as the Frenchman wins 11-5, 11-8, 11-7. An upset of sorts finally arrived in the last match of the day as Stewart Boswell got the better of fellow Australian Cameron Pilley in four games 11-8, 11-5, 4-11, 11-4.