KHOBAR: Karim Darwish, who caused a surprise by snatching the season-end No. 1 ranking while winning the Saudi International on this court two years ago, signalled his belief he can win the World Open on it this week. The 29-year-old from Cairo did that by Tuesday reaching the quarterfinals with an unexpectedly emphatic 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 win over his compatriot Wael El Hindi, who has twice before reached the last eight himself. It took only 38 minutes, which meant that Darwish simultaneously preserved precious energy during a long tournament and further boosted confidence which is already on the rise after recent title successes at El Gouna, Egypt, and Qatar. It was still surprising how completely Darwish outplayed an opponent with a reputation as a tough and sometimes contentious fighter and who two months ago was in the world's top ten. Darwish not only moved better, he attacked with fluency and variety, scoring points as frequently in the front court as at the back. El Hindi received a heavy shunt in the back early in the second game, which made him wince and caused a minute's delay, but he had already begun to look fatalistic and out of sorts and the expected fight-back never materialised. Darwish now plays Peter Barker, the world No. 8 who clinched the world team title for Englad three years ago, and may go on to have a semifinal with another Englishman, James Willstrop. However Willstrop's progress was more tortured than Darwish's. It took him fully 80 minutes to get past his compatriot Daryl Selby 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, requiring a significant dip into his fuel tank to achieve it. The sixth-seed now plays Mohammed El Shorbagy, the former world junior champion from Egypt who is managing doing a degree in business studies at Bristol University whilst maintaining a place in the world's top 12. – Agence France
