REIGNING champion Nathan Hill came through his quarter-final of the York Open Men's Squash Championship, with a 3-0 victory over unseeded Matthew Stephenson.

In a relentless mood Hill took the opening game 9-0 the second 9-5 and the third and the match 9-4.

In the semi-final he will meet Wigginton's Matthew Lowery who had a comfortable 3-0 victory over fellow club-mate Ian Tooms.

No2 seed Jamie Hopwood had a busy night. He was expecting to play in Liverpool but as Nick Robinson could not play on Wednesday, agreed to play the quarter- final as scheduled.

In a game lasting 33 minutes, Hopwood came away with a 3-0 victory before heading for the motorway to play in Liverpool.

No6 seed Paul Adams' second round match was a comfortable victory with a 3-0 win over Paul Turner. Adam now plays Green (3) in their quarter-final at Railway Institute tonight. The winner will then play Hopwood in the semis tomorrow.

In the plate, Owen Humphries will play Chris Plowman in the semis both came through their quarter-finals 3-0 against Nick Clifford and Roger Burton.

Paul Buckland must wait and see who wins between Geoff Woodward and Stillington's Rod Taylor.

In the vintage championships, the longest game of the night saw 1999 champion Dave Booth pushed to the distance by Malcolm Taylor.

Booth after a gruelling 63 minute match came home 10-8 in the fifth with nine handouts at 8-8. Booth will now play No 1 seed Mark Thompson.

In the other semi-final Arthur Williams will meet Dave Goddard.

All plate finals are on Friday with championship finals on Saturday commencing at 6.30pm.

In the ladies competition, the seeds again came through on top.

Trish Kochaniec (1) beat Wendy Shepherd in straight sets, while Katie Watson (2) and Natalie Watson (3) also won 3-0 against Andrea Mayne and Kathryn Cordell respectively.

Annette Williams came through a nervy encounter in five sets 3-2 after trailing 2-1 against Amanda Hartland.

Tonight's order of play

Ladies Championship, semi-final: 6.20 Trish Kochaniec (1) v Annette Williams (4), 6.50 Katie Watson (2) v Natalie Watson (3)

Plate quarter-finals: 6.40 Sheila Clifford v Julie Mee, 7.10 Pat Boden v Ann Scott, 7.40 Fiona Parkinson v Kath Dobson, 8.10 Karen Mulligan v Lynne Barratt.

Men's Plate: 7.20 G Woodward v R Taylor, 7.20 O Humphries v C Plowman.

Vintage Semi-Final: 7.50 M Thompson v D Booth.

Vintage Plate: 7.50 B Sedgwick v M Taylor.

Updated: 11:48 Wednesday, February 06, 2002