(1) Nick Matthew (Eng) beat (4) Peter Barker (Eng) 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3 (83mins)

Reigning champion Nick Matthew reached his third consecutive Canary Wharf Classic final by overpowering England team-mate Peter Barker in a fast and physical semi-final.

In a repeat of last year’s final, the 31-year-old world champion from Sheffield fought back after losing the opening game to gain control of the match.

He quickly built a substantial lead in the second game but from 7-1 up he had to withstand a sustained fightback from Barker before drawing level. He stayed in front throughout the third but Barker launched another massive onslaught in the fourth to win it 11-9.

The crowd were willing the Essex player to maintain that form in the fifth but Matthew showed class and composure to power ahead from 3-3 to win the match without dropping another point.

Matthew said: “There are very fine lines between winning and losing and Peter came out strongly in the first game, like he always does. He did the same in last year’s final and I was very pleased and relieved to get through.

“After beating the two local favourites on consecutive days (he overcame Daryl Selby in the quarters) I hope the crowd will give me a bit more support in the final.”

All the focus is on the winners in most tournaments. For a change, I thought I would offer a review of the four losing quarter-finalists following another dramatic night of magnificent entertainment at the East Wintergarden.

First up was German number one Simon Rosner, whose pink shirt matched by own subtle shirt and tie combination. Sartorial elements aside, I felt Rosner was capable of giving Barker a hard time.

Having witnessed him fight back from 8-4 down to win the third game against Nick Matthew in the North American Open a few short weeks ago,  I was expecting to see more of the same.

However, Rosner never really got going. His length and width were never good enough to trouble Barker on a consistent basis and the biggest factor that contributed to his downfall was the alarming number of shots that clipped the top of the tin.

At times it was like listening to a panel beater on overtime.

The winning shots that produced such a dazzling cameo against Matthew failed to materialise. With his straight kills hitting the tin with such regularity, he needs to be aware of his body position leading in to the shot. At 6ft 3in tall, he needs to think about a few adjustments in his set-up and swing. That height gives him an advantage when hitting down on the ball, but last night he was clearly getting the angles slightly wrong.

Daryl Selby didn’t do a lot wrong against Nick Matthew. He has beaten him before, and, in front of a supportive home crowd, he was hoping to do a lot better last night.

The close scoreline in each game, plus the overall length of the match (65 minutes) illustrates the narrow gap between success and failure.

Matthew is a master at what he does, and Selby is not far behind him. In fact, he seems to be more relaxed on court these days, more mature in his behaviour, and enjoys revealing the kind of racket skills that result in sublimely satisfying crosscourt nicks.

Physically, Selby seems able to cope well with matches like these, soaking up the long rallies and brutal retrieving, and he is on the threshold of the kind of high-level advance that Matthew and Willstrop have both performed in their late 20s.

He is prepared to stay on court for as long as it takes to grind out a victory. The only problem last night was getting him off the court after the match hand finished as he continued his debate with the referee.

It is almost insultingly simple to offer up a solution that recommends hitting more winners and avoiding the tin, but sometimes the answers don’t need to bother an Einstein.

Egyptian Tarek Momen showed how a good a player he is and came close to following his victory over Nick Matthew in Qatar last year with another major scalp against James Willstrop in a pulsating match that enthralled a spellbound audience.

For Willstrop, there was a stark contrast between his battle to overcome Saurav Ghosal and the way he resisted an attacking onslaught from Momen.

The 24-year-old possesses a degree in mechanical engineering and he had obviously done his homework on Willstrop’s stress loads and the possible structural weaknesses of a large body mass required to make sudden movements.

Whereas Ghosal was running and chasing for the entire match, Momen matched fire with fire and delivered some astonishing kill shots from a variety of positions on court.

It was breathtaking squash, with a younger, smaller opponent who clearly had the confidence to take on Willstrop at the front of the court. As well as his speed around the court, Momen delivered flashes of genius with his racket, striking outrageous winners that were simply unplayable.

When Willstrop responded with prolonged spells of disciplined squash, he was able to contain his opponent’s genius and that’s when Momen made mistakes.

If he could go back to the science lab and undertake a performance analysis, we might see him return with an even fitter prototype model that did not drift out of the match for significant spells. Add a little patience to the mix and we might be seeing something really special.

Adrian Grant will be disappointed with his performance against Mohamed El Shorbagy, but any criticism must be tempered by the knowledge that he entered the tournament less than 100 per cent fit.

He was in some discomfort before and during his first round match against Chris Simpson, and although he returned to court with his right leg heavily strapped, he was able to move freely and hit some blinding winners on the glass court.

His pre-tournament advice from national coach Chris Robertson to hit more winners has obviously struck a chord, and I look forward to seeing how this appears in his new game strategy in the future. But he was given little opportunity to do so by a dominant, hard-hitting Mohamed El Shorbagy in the quarter-finals.

He was unable to shift the tall Egyptian from a dominant central position and the match was over in 30 minutes, the shortest of the night.

I am sure it would have been a different story had Grant been fitter.

Good afternoon everyone. We have reached semi-finals day and once again Canary Wharf is bathed in sunshine ahead of two momentous battles on court in the East Wintergarden this evening.

First of all, world champion Nick Matthew faces Peter Barker in a repeat of last year’s final. Both players have recently overcome injury problems, Barker with a knee problem and Matthew with a slight hamstring tear.

In many way, returning from an injury break, mentally refreshed and keen to get back on court, can provide a massive stimulus. It’s almost like starting the season all over again.

Matthew immediately returned to peak form by beating James Willstrop in the finals of the Tournament of Champions in New York and the British Nationals in Manchester.

However, some doubts clearly crept into his mind as he struggled to hit peak form in the North American Open. Hence his admission during last night’s on-court interview that he was not worrying too much about tactics and relying instead on his finely-tuned instincts and years of experience of winning at the highest level.

For Barker, the relief of avoiding surgery following a mix-up of the scans on his injured knee, and the success of his subsequent strengthening and balance exercises, has resulted in him claiming to feel in better shape than at any time in his career.

He will need to show that physical improvement against Matthew this evening, patiently building rallies and trying to avoid the kind of loose ball that Matthew likes to jump on with his high-tempo volleying on both sides of the court.

With the temperatures so warm, and the court correspondingly hotter than usual, expect plenty of long rallies, with Barker having plenty in the tank after two quick victories in straight games against Mark Krajcsak and Simon Rosner.

Matthew also enjoyed a straight-games victory last night against England team-mate Daryl Selby, but that took 65 minutes to complete, exactly the same length of time as Willstrop required to see off the spirited and high-quality challenge from Tarek Momen before squeezing home 11-9 in the fifth.

That statistic alone reflected the brevity of many of the rallies as Momen attacked his tall and powerfully-built opponent. It was like David and Goliath reenacted on a squash court. From flying over head volley nicks to sliced backhand drops from behind the service box, Momen was able to find those narrow areas of the court beyond the reach of the tallest man on the tour.

Following an 84-minute marathon to quell the unstoppable resistance of Saurav Ghosal in the first round, Willstrop has now been on court for 149 minutes in his two matches against two of the fastest men in the game.

His semi-final opponent is another Egyptian, Mohamed El Shorbagy, who provides a dramatic contrast in physique to his two earlier opponents. At 6ft 1in tall and with the broad shoulders expected of a former competitive swimmer, Shorbagy has required just 68 minutes to dismiss the challenges of wild card Joe Lee and Adrian Grant.

Willstrop will not have been physically exhausted by those two matches. In fact, his new-found playing style and status as world number one suggests that he relishes them. (Just look at how he dominates Gregory Gaultier these days at the business end of matches that frequently last more than 90 minutes).

However, he knows that the relentless retrieving of Ghosal and the quick-fire winners slotted home by Momen will have given enormous encouragement to Shorbagy as the 21-year-old Bristol University student bids to stop an all-English final.

Shorbagy loves to step up the pace and hits the ball with enormous ferocity. Perhaps Willstrop knows what to expect and will feel more comfortable containing that type of attack in contrast to the two cat-and-mouse affairs he has managed to negotiate so far.

His awareness of the requirements necessary to bring home the big trophies has finally been embedded in his subconscious and the mental discipline required to keep the ball straight and glued to the side wall is an object lesson for players of all abilities.

Intelligent lobs have replaced the occasionally weak crosscourt drive, and his ability to finish rallies with soft drops and volley drops provides the coup de grace.

Like Peter Nicol before him, there’s nothing flash. There doesn’t need to be when you are able to play such controlled, measured squash.

After two shocks to the system, it will be fascinating to see how Willstrop responds.

Likewise in the other semi-final, Barker will have sensed a degree of uncertainty in Matthew’s recent form and will be keen to make some inroads into changing a head-to-head tally of 14-1 in Matthew’s favour.

It promises to be a wonderful evening of squash from four tremendous athletes.

I hope the sell-out audience includes some London Olympic staff members who are certain to be treated to an evening of high-quality athletic drama that deserves to be showcased on the ultimate sporting stage.