The world number 20 from Yamba struggled to overcome another Englishman, Joe Lee, in the first round but stepped up through the gears against Barker to earn an impressive victory against the number seven seed, surviving a strong fightback to hold on for victory.

Pilley looked in control of the contest after racing into a two-game lead but Barker fought back and took advantage of a string of errors to level the match and force a decider.

But it was the Australian who prevailed in a tough physical match-up, winning 2-10, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-5.

"I'm very happy with that win," said Pilley.

"We've played a few times in the last six months and he's won every time so it's pleasing to make up for those.

"In the fifth game, I just wanted to get off to a good start and not mess it up and I played as well as I could ever have hoped to.

"I had a bit of a motivation drop after the Commonwealth Games but I had a great training stint with David Palmer [a fellow Australian] recently and that gave me a bit of a new lease of life.

"I struggled in the first round so I'm more than happy to get that win."

France's Gregory Gaultier cruised past Malaysia's Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan ©Getty Images



Earlier in the day at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, Gregory Gaultier, the French number one seed, responded to his critics with a resounding victory over Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan.

Gaultier almost crashed out of the tournament at the first hurdle, having to come from two-games down to claw his way past Egyptian Andrew Wagih Shoukry, but he bounced back in emphatic fashion to annihilate Adnan 11-4, 11-7, 11-3 in just 31 minutes.

It's a victory that sees the man from Aix-en-Provence move into the third round in what will be his 50th World Championship contest since making his debut in the tournament in 2002. 

"I'm feeling better and I feel like things are starting to come together more now," said Gaultier.

"Physically I hadn't felt good since I arrived here in Doha but I'm feeling much better now and I'm looking forward to the next match. 

"I have been playing and training hard for two weeks building up to this tournament and winning is all I care about."

Gaultier's seeded semi-final opponent, two-time world champion Ramy Ashour, continued his injury-comeback with a resounding 3-0 victory over England's Adrian Grant.

Elsewhere Egyptians Omar Mosaad and Fares Dessouki successfully moved into the third round, getting past compatriots Karim Ali Fathi and Marwan Elshorbagy, respectively.

Colombia's Miguel Angel Rodriguez, Botswana's Alister Walker and Spain's Borja Golan also won. 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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