English pair Massaro and Matthew crash out of Oracle NetSuite Squash Open

World No.17 Elias, 20, and Matthew, 37 were the youngest and oldest players, respectively, in the main draw of the men’s event and the pair played out an incredible opening game which saw Matthew prevail 19-17 after an incredible 32 minutes of play.

But the brutal nature of that game took its toll on the Yorkshireman as Elias claimed wins in the final three games to take reach the semi-finals courtesy of a 17-19, 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 victory in 68 minutes, bringing an end to Matthew’s last ever Oracle NetSuite Open after the announcement that he will retire from the sport at the end of the season.

Elias will take on World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad for a place in the final after the World No.2 defeated fellow Egyptian Tarek Momen in four games.

Gawad looked out of sorts in the opening stages and struggled to deal with the cold conditions on a dead court, making lots of errors as Momen took the opener for the loss of four points.

He completely changed things around though as he dropped five points en route to victory in the second game, while he capitalised on a loss of focus from Momen in the third to come back from 7-3 down before closing out the fourth to seal an 4-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 triumph.

The first semi-final from the women’s tournament saw Perry claim her first win over defending champion and England team-mate Massaro on the PSA World Tour to reach the final of the Oracle NetSuite Open for the second time in three years.

Perry and World No.4 Massaro were partners in the WSF World Doubles Championships earlier this year but were going head-to-head for the fourth time on the Tour with Perry failing to take more than a game in all of their previous meetings.

But she held off the World No.4 in San Francisco to take an 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 victory which will see her take on either Malaysia’s eight-time World Champion Nicol David or India’s World No.21 Dipika Pallikal Karthik in the final.

The 2017 Oracle NetSuite Open continues tomorrow with both semi-final matches from the men’s tournament, while the semi-final match from the bottom half of the women’s event will also take place tomorrow.

Results – Quarter-Finals (Bottom Half): 2017 Men’s Oracle NetSuite Open
Diego Elias (PER) bt [3] Nick Matthew (ENG) 3-1: 17-19, 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 (68m)
[1] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt [5] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-1: 4-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (56m)

Draw – Semi-Finals: To Be Played September 29th
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v [4] James Willstrop (ENG)
Diego Elias (PER) v [1] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)

Results – Semi-Final (Top Half): 2017 Women’s Oracle NetSuite Open
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [1] Laura Massaro (ENG) 3-2: 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 (68m)

Draw – Semi-Final (Bottom Half): To Be Played September 29th
Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) v [2] Nicol David (MAS)