Men's tournament favourite Gregory Gaultier came through his match against 24-year-old opponent Declan James of England in straight games at the National Squash Centre.

The Frenchman took just 40 minutes to dispose of James, 11-5, 11-3, 11-5.

Gaultier hardly had to break sweat but was relieved to come through unscathed.

“It’s never easy to play against these young guys, because they’re hungry,” he said.

“He had a very tough match yesterday, coming back from match point and 2-0 down was probably draining physically and mentally, so credit to him for putting in a good effort.

“I did the job.

“There’s always a lot of motivation to play in this tournament – you dream of it as a kid – it’s a dream to lift this trophy.

“There’s no secret to success – you have to work harder than the others and believe you can do it.”

The men’s tournament saw world number two Mohamed ElShorbagy avenge his 2012 and 2014 World Championship final defeats to three-time winner Ramy Ashour, beating his fellow Egyptan 14-12, 11-7, 11-4.

“The level we played at in the first game, I haven’t played that level in a very long time,” said ElShorbagy.

“The quality of the game was unbelievable and to be able to get the win today, I’m just really happy. It gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the tournament.

“I feel really blessed to be part of a squash match that the whole world was waiting for, as not many athletes when they retire can say something like that.”

ElShorbagy will face yet another long-term rival in England’s three-time World Champion Nick Matthew, who reached an 11th successive World Championship quarter-final after beating Qatar’s Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi.

This was despite  a 90-minute delay after a lunge from Matthew saw the 37-year-old dislodge a floorboard on the court.

Matthew closed out the match, taking it 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 to set up a 23rd PSA World Tour meeting between himself and ElShorbagy.

“It’s not easy to stay warm, it’s an awkward length of time and it’s difficult mentally as well,” said Matthew about the delay.

“You’re feeling the burn in the legs because they’ve got cold and there were a couple of mis-hits and a few nerves because it was a really crucial point of the match. It wasn’t easy, but it’s the same for both players and you have to adapt.”

Favourite for the women’s draw, 22-year-old Nour El Sherbini, of Egypt, also came through comfortably, beating Japan’s Satomi Watanabe, the first Japanese player to reach the second round, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 in just 23 minutes.

El Sherbini, who is going for her third consecutive world title, said: “I was moving well and towards the end of the game I found my range.

“I’m pleased with the performance because Watanabe is a very talented and has beaten a lot of good players.

“This is the first time I’ve played against her so it was all about reading her game early on and working out how she plays.

“It wasn’t an easy game because of the long rallies but going into the next game I need to close down on the unforced errors that I made today.”

Welsh world number 14 Tesni Evans claimed the biggest win of her career as she sent England number one Laura Massaro crashing.

The pair had met in the quarter-final stage of last month’s Hong Kong Open, with Massaro – the current world number four and 2013 World Champion – prevailing in four games.

But this time it was Evans who got the win this time, and she will now face US Open champion Nour El Tayeb in the last eight.

“I kept on wondering throughout the match if today would be my day – and it was,” Evans said.

“My heart is racing fast. I felt like I had quite a lot of control in the first two games and then towards the end of the third game I was edgy to the max.

“I was just hoping she would give me a tin and that’s probably not the best way to play Laura because she didn’t give me anything. 

"I was really working hard to get the point at the end but she kept coming back and back at me and I’m just delighted to get the win.”

Evans and El Tayeb will be joined in the quarter-finals by world number five Nouran Gohar, who beat Japan’s Satomi Watanabe and England’s Alison Waters.