Nick Matthew, the in-form Englishman who arrived in Hong Kong fresh from winning five titles in a row on the PSA Tour, faced England team-mate Peter Barker, the London left-hander who had lost their previous eight encounters in the quarter finals of the Hong Kong Open.
After dropping the first game, Barker raised his game to new heights to come storming back to win the next three and claim a career-best 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 victory. It was Barker’s first match of the tournament on the Hong Kong Squash Centre’s popular three-sided-glass-walled court – though Matthew was enjoying his third.
“He’s had a couple of matches on this court already, while this is my first. It took me a while to get used to it,” explained the eighth seed to www.squashsite.co.uk later. "I tried to keep telling myself to believe, to break it down, and towards the end to get one more point, one more point.
“I’m very good friends with Nick off court – you never like to see your friends lose even you play them – but I’ve been on the receiving end of a few beatings from Nick for a long time, so maybe today it was my turn.
“It’s very special to beat the world number one, so I’m really pleased, obviously. The tournament’s not over, but it’s been a good week so far,” added Barker, now in his first Super Series semi-final of the year after ending Matthew’s 25-match unbeaten Tour run.
Matthew highlighted an injury which caused him to take a three-minute break during the final game: "We had a collision at the start of the second game. It was accidental, but the pain in my ankle was really severe. I’ve had ligament damage there so often I don’t think I have any ligaments left!
“I carried on, but as the match went on I didn’t have any strength in my left leg and it got more and more painful. But I wasn’t going to shake hands – I’ll always carry on to the end.
“It’s tough to take, losing after six months, especially when it’s partly because your body lets you down. He may have beaten me anyway, who knows, but it’s still tough to take.
“Pete’s a great mate, I wish him well for the rest of the tournament.”
Unfortunately Barker lost out in the semi-finals against Frenchman Gregory Gaultier who went on to contest the final against Ramy Ashour.
The 22-year-old Egyptian knew that only a win would take him above Nick Matthew, the Englishman who wrested the world number one ranking from him in June.
But it was Gregory Gaultier that took the opening honours in the final on the all-glass court at the Plaza Hollywood shopping centre in Kowloon. The fifth seed from France won the first game after a tie-break, then moved 5-1 ahead in the second.
The Frenchman, desperate to end his run of three successive defeats in the Hong Kong Open final, threw everything he could at the Egyptian. But Ashour took the next two games to open up a 2/1 lead.
Gaultier led 10-4 in the fourth – but Ashour saved five game balls to climb back to 9-10 before the 27-year-old from Aix-en-Provence took the game to draw level.
Gaultier led 6-4 and 7-6 in the decider, but on his first match ball Ashour delighted the crowd with a trademark backhand crosscourt volley straight into the nick – and victory was his by a 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9 margin.