The 30-year-old from Cape Town, who knocked out world number 11 Daryl Selby in the first round, put in a thunderous performance at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex to get past world number nine Momen in an 85-minute thriller.

The world number 24 completed the victory with a dramatic final rally to take the match 12-10, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-8.

Coppinger becomes the first South African since Roland Watson in 1979 to reach the quarter-finals and he will next take on world number one Mohamed Elshorbagy, conqueror of German Simon Rösner, for a place in the semi-finals.

"Considering the setting, the circumstance and that this is the World Championship, this is without a shadow of a doubt the biggest win of my career," he said. 

"I was just a few points away from a win and then had to start all over again, but I did something similar in the first round so I had the belief that I could do it.

"I'm in the quarters now and I don't think any player gets there easily - we've all had our own battles.

"I've come through a few of those so I'm mentally in the right place, so let's see what happens tomorrow."

Australia's Cameron Pilley meets number one seed Gregory Gaultier for a place in the semi-finals ©Getty Images



Australia's top ranked squash player, Cameron Pilley, joined Coppinger as the only other unseeded player in the last eight after he defeated Botswanan Alister Walker 3-0.

Pilley, the current world number 20 from Yamba, took out world number eight Peter Barker in his first round match and followed up that performance with an impressive and dominant display against Walker to set up a last eight encounter against world number two and number one seed Gregory Gaultier.

"I'm absolutely stoked to be in the quarters of the World Championship," said Pilley.

"It's an awesome feeling, especially after the last few months where I've been out of form."

Elsewhere, defending champion Nick Matthew survived a tough test against Saurav Ghosal of India to set up a last eight battle with four-time champion Amr Shabana, while two-time winner Ramy Ashour will meet Spanish champion Borja Golan after winning a thrilling match with Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez.

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