Squash: Walker and Nicol close on semi-final showdown

The England pair, Peter Nicol and Chris Walker, are on course for a semi-final meeting in the squash tournament after reaching the last eight in Manchester yesterday.

Walker became the first men's quarter-finalist as he edged out Martin Heath, of Scotland, 3-9, 9-6, 7-9, 9-7, 9-1, in a terrific match that lasted 83 minutes. The New York-based 35-year-old is ranked three places below Heath in both the world list and the seedings for this event, and his victory was the first case of the form book being overturned.

"I'm really pleased," said Walker, a three-times European champion. "I played very well and the crowd was extremely supportive.

"We both had good phases of the match and we seemed to find it really hard in the middle, but then I had a good finish. My game plan was to stick in there mentally."

Heath, the seventh seed from Oban, felt he should have wrapped up a place in the last eight when he led 2-1. "I'm disappointed because I should never have let it go to a fifth set," said the 29-year-old. "Chris found a couple of refereeing decisions going his way and had a good run of the ball but he played very well.

"I'm shattered because I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. It could have been 3-0 to me on another day."

Walker will now meet Australia's world No 3, David Palmer, who ended the hopes of the Welsh 11th seed Alex Gough with a 9-6, 9-7, 9-7 triumph.

If he comes through that contest, Walker would expect to face the defending champion Nicol, who was given a stern examination by the world No 11, Anthony Ricketts of Australia, before emerging a 9-5, 9-0, 10-8 winner.

The top seed was game-ball down at 8-5 in the third, but produced his class at the right time to avoid being kept on court for too much longer than he wanted. "I started well but lost my way a little at the start of the third game," said Nicol, who controversially switched his allegiance from Scotland to England last year for funding reasons.

"But I wasn't going to throw it away and had to work hard to get back on top. It was my first tough game of the competition and I'm relieved to get it out of the way."

Nicol was, however, unhappy at proceedings when Ricketts took a three-minute injury time-out. "Maybe it was justified, but I don't think he should have received coaching during that time," he said. "Supposedly he was injured, but it appeared very slight."

Nicol's quarter-final opponent will be Canada's Graham Ryding, who caused a major upset by ousting sixth seed Beng Hee Ong, of Malaysia, 3-9, 9-4, 9-2, 9-0.

In the women's competition, the world No 1, Sarah Fitz-Gerald of Australia, cruised into the quarter-finals with a 9-2, 9-0, 9-2 success against Malaysia's Sharon Wee.

Fitz-Gerald will take on England's Stephanie Brind for a semi-final place after the 25-year-old from Kent recovered to beat Wendy Maitland of Scotland. The sixth seeded Brind was 2-1 down, but then asserted her superiority and raced through the last two games to complete a 9-5, 2-9, 7-9, 9-0, 9-0 success.

Despite being overwhelming favourite for the gold medal, Fitz-Gerald will not allow any complacency when she plays Brind. "The English girls have a good team spirit and it will be tough to come up against that," said Fitz-Gerald.

Scotland's Pamela Nimmo failed to reach the last eight as she lost 9-4, 9-3, 9-4 to Fitz-Gerald's fellow Australian, the eighth-seeded Rachael Grinham.

England had their hopes of picking up a medal in the women's team table tennis event dashed yesterday. They were knocked out by an experienced New Zealand side, who advanced to the semi-finals.

The former world No 1, Li Chunli, did the damage in a 3-1 victory, winning both her games against Helen Lower and Nicola Deaton. Deaton was England's only winner with a straight-sets victory over Tracey McLauchlan. In the other match, England's top junior, Katy Parker, was defeated in four sets by Karen Li.

Scotland were beaten 3-1 by Australia and failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the men's team event.