Thierry Lincou firmly put the disappointment of recent PSA Tour results behind him when he upset third seed Ramy Ashour in five games in the men's quarter-finals of the Qatar Classic at the Khalifa International Squash Complex in the Qatar capital Doha.

Ashour, playing in his first event as World Open champion, was a game and 9-7 up in second when he fell over close to the side wall. The 21-year-old Egyptian immediately grasped his right knee, but eventually recovered to finish the game - simply going for winners and unable to stop fifth seed Lincou levelling the match.

After a three-minute injury break, Ashour came back for the third game, which went to the Frenchman. Moving more freely in the fourth, wearing a knee bandage and ankle strapping, Ashour saved a match ball at 9-10 before winning the game to level the match for the second time.

But Lincou came out strong in the decider and went on to clinch a confidence-boosting 6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3 victory - and his first win over Ashour in five attempts.

"It is never easy to play somebody who is injured and stay focused to forget it," explained Lincou, a former world number one, afterwards. "I think I managed to do it but it was unlucky for him."

In a men's session of the $145,000 Super Series Platinum PSA Tour event beset by upsets, England's No7 seed Nick Matthew recorded his longest match on the PSA Tour when he defeated fourth-seeded Australian David Palmer 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 13-15, 11-6 in 111 minutes - and Egypt's Karim Darwish, runner-up in last week's World Open in Manchester, twice came from behind to beat second seed Gregory Gaultier 5-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5.

Order was restored in the women's $74,000 Gold WISPA World Tour event when all four top seeds progressed to the semi-finals.

Malaysian favourite Nicol David remained on course to win her third successive title when she beat Alison Waters 11-4, 14-12, 11-9.

Men's quarter-finals:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [10] Peter Barker (ENG) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (35m)
[5] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3 (59m)
[7] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [4] David Palmer (AUS) 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 13-15, 11-6 (111m)
[6] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 5-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5 (65m)

Women's quarter-finals:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [7] Alison Waters (ENG) 11-4, 14-12, 11-9 (24m)
[4] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [9] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (36m)
[3] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [8] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) 12-10, 1-11, 11-7, 14-12 (51m)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [12] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (28m)