By Satya Rath/Doha

After all the jolts, scares, disappointments, shockers and upsets, the top four seeds managed to live up to their billing at the World Squash Championship, being played at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex here.
French top seed Gregory Gaultier, second seed Mohamed Elshorbagy of Egypt, third seed and defending champion Nick Matthew of England and fourth seed Ramy Ashour were the last men standing at the end of the quarter-final round yesterday.
The semi-finals today will be a keenly contested affair with Gaultier taking on Ashour and Matthew facing off against Elshorbagy for a spot in the final.   
It was the best of days for top seed Gaultier. After three error-prone, scrappy, ill-tempered wins preceding yesterday’s quarter-final clash, Gaultier managed to rediscover that missing touch, those trademark delectable drops and ferocious volleys that helped the Frenchman scale the world’s peak a year back.
It was, however, the worst of days for Cameron Pilley, one of two unseeded players in the last-eight round, the other being South African Stephen Coppinger. Till yesterday, Australian Pilley had been having a dream run -- dumping three higher-rated players including the seventh seed en route to his first Worlds quarters, but his free-flowing game deserted him just when he needed it most.

in his elements
Gaultier was in his elements today, whatever he tried clicked for him. He hit the right length, volleyed tight, and had just one error to may be a dozen by Pilley. But importantly, he got his drops dead right. He scored seven points on the trot to take the first game in 14 minutes, nine straight points in the 10-minute second game, and seven on the trot in the deciding third.
Forty-one minutes was all it took him to get past Pilley 11-3, 11-4, 11-5, his ninth win in 10 meetings between the two. It’s his fifth semi-final appearance in his 13th straight Worlds, where he has lost in the finals an agonizing four times.
“As I said before, I am taking it match by match. Each day, each match is like a new mission for me. I feel for Cameron, it was his first quarter-final at a World Championship, and both of us have been seeing each other for 13 years now. He played really well in the earlier rounds, but today, I think, was my day,” said Gaultier.
“I think I am adding something extra to my game with each passing day. I was not happy with the way I begun, but things seem to be shaping up just fine. I am happy to be still there, and I hope this continues for two more days. Some of my friends have flown down all the way just to cheer for me, and I would not like to disappoint them,” added the Frenchman.
Gaultier, though, may have to unveil all his ‘extras’ in today’s semi-final as a gentleman called Ramy Ashour will be standing in his way to a fifth final. Gaultier trails 7-19 in their head-to-head meetings, and if one witnessed yesterday’s match between Ashour and Borja Golan, one can well understand why.
Spain’s Golan, seeded sixth here and considered one of the fastest movers among the current lot, blitzed through the first two games 11-9, 11-7, catching even the seasoned Egyptian off-guard with his blistering pace and athleticism. But once the two-time world champion settled down, he was in a class of his own.
The crafty Ashour just had too much guile and far too many tricks in his game. The more Golan ran, the more he made him run. The more he dived, the more he made him plunge.
A fall looked inevitable, and soon enough, down went Golan, in the process hurting the little finger of his serving right hand. The medical timeout broke his momentum and Ashour never looked back after that.
He raced through the next three games 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 to make the semi-finals of the Worlds for the third straight year. “It’s very difficult to describe my feelings after such an intense match. All credit to Golan, he played great, he definitely deserves to among the top 10.
“I enjoyed playing, it sorts of prepares you mentally for what to expect next. Gaultier is a tough competitor, he has won our last two meetings, so it would be interesting,” Ashour said after the exciting 75-minute encounter.