Qualifiers Lane & Hamza In Houston Breakthrough

Qualifiers Ahmed Maged Hamza and Gilly Lane will meet in the quarter-finals of the BCD & SMH Houston Open after causing notable first round upsets in the PSA Tour squash event at Downtown at the Met in Houston in the US state of Texas.

Egyptian Hamza claimed the biggest scalp, beating Australia's No3 seed Wade Johnstone 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9. The US-based 31-year-old from Alexandria will meet fellow qualifier Gilly Lane, a 21-year-old from Philadelphia who celebrated his first match on the PSA Tour with an unexpected win.

It was Lane's fifth qualifying bid since February 2005 - and he celebrated his breakthrough by beating eighth-seeded Greek Fabian Kalaitzis 11-4, 11-10 (2-0), 11-1.

There was a further unexpected US success when unseeded Ryan Donegan fought back from 2/1 down to beat Mexico's No7 seed Jose Angel Becerril 11-4, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9. The 25-year-old from St Louis now meets second-seeded Egyptian Mohd Ali Anwar Reda for a place in the semi-finals.

1st round:
[1] Omar Elborolossy (EGY) bt [Q] Andrew McDougall (CAN) 11-2, 11-2, 11-9
[5] Bradley Hindle (AUS) bt Muhammad Sadiq (USA) 11-10 (4-2), 11-10 (10-8), 11-4
[4] Tony James (AUS) bt Khayal Muhammad Khan (PAK) 11-6, 10-11 (3-5), 11-10 (2-0), 9-11, 11-7
[6] Laurent Elriani (FRA) bt Patrick Chifunda (ZAM) 11-8, 11-4, 10-11 (0-2), 11-1
[Q] Gilly Lane (USA) bt [8] Fabian Kalaitzis (GRE) 11-4, 11-10 (2-0), 11-1
[Q] Ahmed Maged Hamza (EGY) bt [3] Wade Johnstone (AUS) 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9
Ryan Donegan (USA) bt [7] Jose Angel Becerril (MEX) 11-4, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9
[2] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt [Q] Regardt Schonborn (RSA) 11-10 (3-1), 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9