HAMILTON (Bermuda), Nov 29: France’s Gregory Gaultier underlined himself as the most in-form player of the World Open on Wednesday, reaching the quarter-finals in the fastest match of the tournament so far – only 25 minutes.

The second-seeded British Open champion from Aix-en-Provence overwhelmed Hisham Ashour of Egypt 11-4, 11-8, 11-4, having the confidence to try his full repertoire.

Gaultier gave his opponent a point which the referee had got wrong and still had something to spare.Gaultier was only briefly challenged when the talented Hisham, who was good enough to upset 16th seeded Englishman Adrian Grant in the previous round, led 4-2 in the second game and kept in contention at 8-9.

But Gaultier finished the next two points with impressive conviction and continued to play so well that he looked more than good enough to atone for the disappointment of last year when he was unable to convert five match points in the World Open final in Cairo.

By marked contrast, his next opponent, John White, the former world number one, needed fully 76 minutes to survive a five-game match with Azlan Iskandar, the 13th-seeded Malaysian, and even looked as though he would not survive at all in the fourth game.

At that stage White was required to save three match points before winning 7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6.

James Willstrop also produced a startling recovery, his second from two games down in successive matches.

Willstrop won 5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 and pronounced himself “thrilled” with what was “almost carbon copy” of the Anjema match, but it all looked highly improbable at one stage.

But Abbas’ standard briefly dropped early in the third game, letting the Englishman in, and in the fourth Willstrop set the crowd roaring with a spectacular shot between his legs which helped him reach 4-0.

Both players were finding it hard to keep their feet by now, and there was a worrying five minutes when both players came out of the court to discuss with referee John Massarella and tournament referee Jack Flynn the problem created by sweat on the glass floor.

But they decided to continue a match full of great attacking ploys, both short and long, and fantastic retrieving.

Results (x denotes seeding):