Doha: Qatar's highest-ranked player, Abdulla Al Tamimi, suffered a heartbreaking exit from this year's QTerminals Qatar Classic after an injury forced his retirement during his quarter-final clash yesterday. Facing World No. 20, Jonah Bryant, Al Tamimi was leading in the fifth game when a suspected Achilles rupture ended his run.

The 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 6-7 ret.) victory powered the Englishman to his first Platinum semi-final, while Al Tamimi's hopes were dashed in front of his fans at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.

The fiercely contested quarter-final was locked at two games all after 70 gruelling minutes before Al Tamimi seemed to be heading towards a thrilling win in the final game.

However, Al Tamimi, ranked 21st in the world, collapsed after chasing a ball into the front left corner and was immediately given medical assistance.

Crying out loud in pain, Al Tamimi was unable to continue and had to be carried off the court as the match was awarded to Bryant, who will now face his training partner, Paul Coll, for a spot in the final.

Qatar's Abdulla Al Tamimi falls after suffering from an injury during the match against Jonah Bryant.

World No. 3 Coll came through an exhausting battle with World No. 23 Mohamed Abouelghar to win 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8) a quarter-final thriller that was extended to 96 minutes.

“It was a very physical match on this court; you have to do a lot of deep movements,” said Coll, who booked his place in the semi-finals of the Qatar tournament for the first time since 2021.

“I'm very happy with the game, I could have been a bit more consistent if I'm being picky, my length dropped off a bit and he's too deadly when that happens.” Coll, who was the runner-up in 2020 and 2021, has failed to make it past the second round in his three previous attempts, said.

Earlier, on the women's side, eight-time World Champion Nour El Sherbini fought back from the brink of elimination as she overturned a two-game deficit to beat France's Melissa Alves 3-2 (11-13, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7) in 54 minutes.

Playing in her first Platinum quarter-final in over four years, the World No.20 Alves came out firing to take the first two games.

At 6-5 down in the third game, Egyptian El Sherbini showed her prowess and stormed right through, with five successive points seeing her half the deficit before wrapping up with two strong game wins to advance.

In the semi-final, El Sherbini will meet Belgium's Tinne Gilis, who earned her spot after toppling Egypt's Farida Mohamed 11-2, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6.

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