Good morning from a normal sunny Cairo. We had the unusual experience of a reasonably heavy rain shower yesterday morning which interrupted play for 15 minutes. Nothing like that is forecast for today.

This match is being played on Court 3, the furthest from the clubhouse and the router so there may be breaks. Ahmed El Mahdi, the current World Champion, won his block unbeaten but had several tough battles in doing so. Ahmed Nasr dropped his opening match to Anwar Abdelaziz (the number 4 in Egypt's 2012 GCWTC team) and could do no better than second place. Hence this heavyweight line-up in the quarter-finals.

El Mahdi is B and K, Nasr R and Y.

Game 1
B 2y SSE 1. R 1y S B. K 1ft E B, blocking Y at B. Y hammers into K and clears B as well, K ending 2y WNW 1.

B semi-clears R, ending 13y C1, R pos. K clears R gently. Y 2ft pos.

B clears R to Wb, ending 6y SSW 1. R 1ys S 1, not blocking K at Y. K clears Y to Wb without much stop. Y blocks K at R.

B at R - clears softly. R to 4y SSE 1, K clears R by 10y, ending 8y SE 1. Y has 40 degree shot at 1, hammers it, almost gets it but bounces to 2ft pos.

B 3yd S 1. R clears B and R to Wb. K at Y, and cut-peels it cleanly! 1-0 Nasr.

Y 2y S 2.

B 2ft E 2, R 4y SSW2. K misses Y. Y runs. 2-0 Nasr.

B 4y N 3. R, K and Y all to 2yd N 3!

B tries double clear on R and Y but only gets R any distance. R clears K from 20y to Eb. K misses 7y at Y! Y runs 3 to Sb. 3-0 Nasr.

B to 1ft pos at 4. R from Nb to 4yd pos N 4. K from Wb to 4y NNW 4. Y from Sb at B, misses - hitting hoop and ending 4y NNW 4.

B runs 4 gently 3-1 Nasr.

R to 3y S 5. K tries controlled clear on R but only nicks it. Y to 1y S 5.

B next to Y. R tries to block K at Y, looks good. K misses Y but hits R to near peg. Y runs to Nb. 4-1 Nasr.

B to 2y S 6. R (2y W peg) to 3y S B. K from Eb runs gently into B - may have pushed it into shadow of 6 from Y. Y just nicks B but leaves it front.

B stops R to Wb 8y N C1. R to 5y S 6. K to 1ft pos. Y from Sb at K and hoop - runs! 5-1 Nasr. Why didn't El Mahdi take a fairly easy 6?

Connection issues.

Nasr took game 1 7-2. El Mahdi leads Nasr 2-1.

Mohammed Nasr has just finished a quickfire 7-4, 7-4 win over Yasser Esmat. 40 minutes in total!

Nasr win 4. Now 2-2. Nasr runs 5 with R from Sb. Leads 3-2

K 2y S 6. Y 4y S 6.

B 3y S 6. R clears K from Nb but not far. K clears Y to Wb. Y misses B.

B runs 6 easily. 3-3.

R 2ft SSW 7? K 2y NNE 7 wired from R. Y 4y NE 7.

B 2y N 7. R into jaws of 7. K clears Y to Eb. Y at B from 21y - misses.

B with jump at 7 - El Mahdi has the hoop reset. Fails and stays in 2ft pos. R is a bit on the back of W wire but manages to clear B! K misses 7 fron Nb, to well S.

Missed a bit , K fails 7 again from Nb. Y 2ft pos.

B runs into Y may be hidden from R. R goes for very angled 7 - fails, bouncing out to 2ft ENE. K clears Y to Nb. Y clears B to peg high.

B to 3ft NW 7. R is having another short angled hoop - and gets it. 4-3 Nasr.

K 3y N 8. Y 2ft NNW 8.

B cuddles R. R touches B. K runs 8. 4-4

Y to 2y S 9. B plays big roll, getting to 7y S 9. R to 4y S 9, blocking K at Y, K misses the left of Y. Y runs 9 to Nb. 5-4 Nasr.

B 7y S 10. R 2y S 10. K runs into R - may hamper. Y 3y SSW 10.

B clears Y, holding pos 3yd W 10. R stops K to 12y N C4. K runs back into R! Y 2y S 10, blocking B at R.

B tries to send Y in front of R but it goes too far. R stops K to Sb. K clears Y to Nb! Y centre-balls B to 4y N C4.

B clears R, both balls to Nb. R 2ft W 10. K 1y S 10. Y 6in NE K.

B clears R sending it to 12, B to 2y E 11. R misses K. K runs 10. 5-5 with B near 11.

B 7y S 10. R 2y S 10. K runs into R - may hamper. Y 3y SSW 10.

B clears Y, holding pos 3yd W 10. R stops K to 12y N C4. K runs back into R! Y 2y S 10, blocking B at R.

B tries to send Y in front of R but it goes too far. R stops K to Sb. K clears Y to Nb! Y centre-balls B to 4y N C4.

B clears R, both balls to Nb. R 2ft W 10. K 1y S 10. Y 6in NE K.

B clears R sending it to 12, B to 2y E 11. R misses K. K runs 10. 5-5 with B near 11.

Y 3y NW 11.

B 2ft NW 11, not blocking Y. R 1ft pos. K nicks R. Y runs 11 6-5 Nasr.

B 1ft angled pos. R 3y N 12. K misses R from C1. Y misses B.

B runs by 18in. 6-6

R to 3y N 13. K (offside) from WPP at R - just misses. Y pushes B into wired position.

B tries to come off Y but goes well E. R runs. Nasr wins 7-2, 7-6