Last eight squashed to last four

World No 1 Nicole David of Malaysia looks in good shape to win yet another squash title, adding to her already impressive record of two World Open squash titles and one Asian Games gold medal.

The 23 year-old Malaysian player cruised through to the Doha 2006 semifinals beating Park Eun Ok of Korea in three sets and dropping just four points at the Khalifa Courts.

Meanwhile in the men's, compatriots Ong ben Hee and Iskandar Mohamad Azlan also won through in their quarterfinal matches.

In the first of the women's singles quarterfinals on Tuesday 12 December, Hong Kong, China's Mak Pui Hin got the better of Japan's Mami Nishio in three sets. The Japanese player began the match firing on all cylinders, claiming the first six points of the first game, but then Mak hit back winning the first game 9-7.

There was no stopping Mak in the second game as she won it 9-1. The third game differed little with the player from Hong Kong winning it 9-3 to advance to the semifinal.

In the second quarterfinal, Malaysia's Wee Sharon Ee Lin beat Japan's Chinatsu Matsui, 9-3, 9-2, 9-2.

Wee, who won the bronze medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, dominated proceedings from the start, using her speed and strength to overpower the Japanese player.

The Asian Games defending champion, Chiu Wing Yin of Hong Kong, China made short work of India's Joshana Chinappa in the third quarterfinal, securing the match 9-3, 9-1, 9-2.

In the most eagerly anticipated encounter of the day, top women's player David finally took the court to the warm applause from a crowd that had come specially to see her in action.

Billed against the Korean Park, David showed flashes of brilliance in her performance that lasted a mere 19 minutes. She won the match 9-0, 9-0, 9-4.

"I'm hoping to get the intensity going again in the semifinal," said David. "In the last phase of this match I lost some easy points, so I want to work on the intensity."

Park said of the third game: "I believed in my mind I had a chance to win it, but then I gave up."

Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman beat Wong Wai Hang of Hong Kong, China 3-0 in the first of the men's quarterfinal encounters. The first game turned out to be a nail-biter with the man from the subcontinent finally winning it 9-7.

The Pakistani player stamped his authority early in the second game with flashes of brilliance. He won the match 9-7, 9-5, 10-8.

The second quarterfinal saw two Indians pitted against each other when 27 year-old Ritwik Bhattacharya took on the 20 year-old Saurav Ghosal. The match turned out to be a real cliff-hanger with Ghosal taking it 9-4, 9-0, 6-9, 9-7.

Malaysia featured in the last two matches of the day with Ong Ben Hee taking on Ali Bader Al Ramezi of Kuwait and Iskandar Mohamad Azlan playing Pakistan's Aamir Khan.

The Malaysian players won both encounters with Ong taking his clash 9-6, 9-1, 9-0 and Iskandar 9-7, 9-5, 9-2.

Iskandar said: "I think I can play play much better. In today's match I got better as every game went on. I was moving a lot better. I lost to him [Khan] two and a half weeks ago in the Pakistan Open. In a way I feel it was a blessing in disguise to have lost to him then, as I learnt a lot."

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006