It was a determined performance by the 17-year-old from Peshawar in the semifinals against a tough opponent in El Sherbini. Celebrating his third appearance in the championship, Farhan battled for four games to overcome El Sherbini 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7.

Farhan had earlier stunned Mexico's No. 7 seed Miled Zarazua to reach the last eight.

El Sherbini, cousin of 14-year-old former women's world junior champion Nour El Sherbini, was only seeded to reach the last 32 — but made his breakthrough in the championship after upsetting France's third seed Lucas Serme in the third round.

Farhan Zaman now faces Cairo-based Egyptian Ali Farag for a place in the final. Second seed Farag ended English interest in the event by beating eighth seed Charles Sharpes 11-8, 11-7, 11-4.

The other semi-final will be an all-Egyptian affair between favourite Amr Khaled Khalifa and outsider Marwan El Shorbagy.

Khalifa, the 17-year-old world No94 from Cairo, brushed aside sixth-seeded Indian Aditya Jagtap 11-5, 11-2, 11-2, while El Shorbagy, a 9/16 seed, continued his unscheduled march through the event by dispatching fellow countryman Ali Ashraf El Karargy 11-6, 11-6, 11-7.

El Shorbagy, 17, from Alexandria, is only two rounds away from creating championship history by becoming the first brother of a former champion to win the title. His illustrious older sibling Mohamed El Shorbagy, now ranked 13 in the world, is the reigning champion after last year becoming only the second player in history to win the title a second time. -PPI

Quarter-finals (1) Amr Khaled Khalifa (EGY) bt (6) Aditya Jagtap (IND) 11-5, 11-2, 11-2 (9/16) Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) bt (17/32) Ali Ashraf El Karargy (EGY) 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (9/16) Farhan Zaman (PAK) bt (17/32) Mohamed El Sherbini (EGY) 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7 (2) Ali Farag (EGY) bt (8) Charles Sharpes (ENG) 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 AUS 18 (17) Stewart Boswell AUS 19 (19) Ong Beng Hee MAS 20 (23) Tarek Momen EGY