Declan James and James Willstrop win thriller to reach World Doubles semi-finals

Declan James and James Willstrop defeated Australia’s Zac Alexander and David Palmer in a 77-minute thriller to reach the semi-finals of the WSF World Doubles Squash Championships in Manchester.

Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters advanced to the last four of the women’s draw after their Malaysian opponents, Rachel Arnold and Nicol David, withdrew with injury.

Daryl Selby and Tom Richards in the men’s, Laura Massaro and Sarah-Jane Perry in the women’s and Adrian Waller and Victoria Lust in the mixed draws will play no further part after they were all eliminated on Thursday.

James and Willstrop found themselves 5/0 down in the first game of their match before clawing back to 5/5 against Alexander and Palmer – winner of two gold medals in doubles competition at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. A large crowd gathered as the game grew with intensity at sudden death 10/10, with the English sneaking it 11/10.

The Aussies then started the second as they had the first, taking a 7/1 lead as the physical contest produced many lets. Willstrop, who played on the forehand side, then put an unforced error into the tin to give the Australians 10/6 game ball, which they took to seal the second game.

The decider was a close contest throughout. But England took the initiative with the match poised at 7/7. A backhand volley drop from James gave England match ball and they claimed the win with an 11/10, 6/11, 11/9 scoreline.

“My partner played brilliantly tonight,” Willstrop, 33, said. “He had to put up with a lot of striking down the backhand side. You don’t get the rewards straight away in doubles so you have to have the mental strength to keep going and know that the momentum can swing in your favour in the match. I had complete confidence in Declan tonight, it was coming on to his forehand a lot and he handled it.”

The two of them spoke regularly between rallies and Declan said this was crucial in helping them get back into the first two games. The 24-year-old said: “We just kept saying to each other, ‘Take one point at a time, think about the squash and don’t worry about the scoreboard.’ When we did that we managed to roll some points together.

“Even when we were 9/7 and 10/8 up in the third, James was still telling me the same thing because I think I got a bit excited at times, particularly in the second game.”

They face Australia’s other pairing, second seeds Cameron Pilley and Ryan Cuskelly, on Friday for a place in Saturday’s final.

Duncalf and Waters remain undefeated in the women’s competition. Rachel Arnold, of Malaysia, had felt an injury early on Thursday and had already withdrawn from the mixed draw earlier that day to give herself a chance to be fit.

But the match did not even get on to court before Arnold and her partner Nicol David conceded. Duncalf and Waters will now face second seeds Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal, of India, in the last four.

Waters, 34, said: “There’s no pressure on us now and we’re confident we can play our game, hopefully we’ll have a good match. It was a shame (the Malaysian’s withdrew) earlier as we were looking forward to it but it keeps us fresh for the semi-final.”

Both Massaro and Perry and Selby and Richards lost quarter finals late on Thursday evening after they waited patiently as other matches overran. Massaro and Perry had led 1-0, 9/7 against Australia’s Racheal Grinham and Donna Urquhart but the Aussie’s won four points in a row to take the second game and send the match to a decider, which they won 11/8 after 54 minutes.

Selby and Richards were beaten 11/7, 11/7 by New Zealand’s Paul Coll and Campbell Grayson in the men’s quarter finals. Waller and Lust’s tournament came to an end in the group phase as they were beaten 11/2, 11/8 by Coll and Joelle King.

Come and support your England players in the semi-finals at the National Squash Centre tomorrow. Play begins at 11am.