Fresh from his Super Squash Series victories in Durban and Port Elizabeth, top seeded Steve Coppinger had little difficulty in advancing to the semifinals of the South African National Squash Championships at the Wanderers Club on Wednesday night.

Coppinger outplayed Central Gauteng's Mike Tootill in straight games.

Drawn to play Coppinger in the semifinal on Thursday evening is defending champion Rodney Durbach, who accounted for Northern Gauteng's Nico Mulder in straight games.

Second seed Clinton Leeuw of Western Province needed four games to dispose of Gary Wheadon (KwaZulu-Natal) to stake his semifinal place where he will clash with fourth seed Craig van der Wath of Eastern Gauteng.

Van der Wath, 44, who will defend his 40-44 age group title at the World Masters Championships in Cologne, Germay at the end of August, wrote his name in the squash annals when he made his 22nd appearance in the quarter-finals of the national championships.

He outlasted Zuko Kubukeli in a titanic struggle lasting 70 minutes.

Van der Wath took the first game but nuggety retrieving by Kubukeli saw him pocket the second game 16-14 on his fourth game point. Points seesawed in the third game with Kubukeli eventually winning it 15-13.

Van der Wath's astute placings took their toll on Kubukeli in the fourth game, which van der Wath pocketed 11-3, and the fifth was a humdinger with both players trying to gain supremacy. However, it was the patient, disciplined Van der Wath who clinched the match on his first match point at 11-9.

The top three seeds in the women's division - top-ranked Farrah Sterne, Milnay Louw and Siyole Waters - all reached the semifinals.  All three players had easy paths, accounting for Senade Haupt, Cara Willoughby and Juanette le Roux respectively.

In the men's semifinals on Thursday, Coppinger meets Durbach while Leeuw clashes with van der Wath.

In the women's matches, Sterne plays Weir Nunan and Waters meets Louw.

--Sapa--