Duncalf Ditches Atkinson In Hong Kong Upset

The only upset in the second round of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open came in the women's event when England's Jenny Duncalf despatched former world champion Vanessa Atkinson, the No8 seed, to take an unexpected place in the quarter-finals of the $89,000 WISPA Platinum event.

The top eight seeds secured their anticipated places in the last eight of the men's $120,000 PSA Super Series Platinum event, led by defending champion Amr Shabana with a straight games win over Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee.

Jenny Duncalf, the No11 seed who celebrates her 25th birthday on Saturday, recovered from a game down to topple Atkinson 8-10, 9-4, 9-0, 9-1 in 44 minutes. The England international from Harrogate in Yorkshire will now face top seed Nicol David for a place in the semi-finals.

Defending champion David, the world number one, defeated Dutch opponent Annelize Naude, the 16th seed, 9-5, 9-2, 9-4.

With successive victories in last month's Saudi International and last week's Qatar Classic, Amr Shabana notched up his 12th successive PSA Tour match win when he beat 12th seed Ong Beng Hee 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 in 34 minutes to claim his quarter-final berth. The event favourite will now face compatriot Wael El Hindi, the No8 seed who ended Joey Barrington's run, beating the unseeded Englishman 11-8, 11-7, 10-11 (4-6), 11-9 in 96 minutes.

Second seed Gregory Gaultier was taken the full distance by ninth seed Stewart Boswell before beating the Australian 10-11 (0-2), 11-4, 11-4, 10-11 (2-4), 11-5 in 72 minutes.

Men's 2nd round:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [12] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (34m)
[8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-8, 11-7, 10-11 (4-6), 11-9 (96m)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt [13] Borja Golan (ESP) 11-8, 11-5, 11-2 (39m)
[5] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [10] Peter Barker (ENG) 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 (37m)
[7] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [16] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 (21m)
[4] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [11] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 (38m)
[6] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [14] Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-8, 11-9, 11-10 (3-1) (80m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [9] Stewart Boswell (AUS) 10-11 (0-2), 11-4, 11-4, 10-11 (2-4), 11-5 (72m)

Women's 2nd round:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [16] Annelize Naude (NED) 9-5, 9-2, 9-4 (31m)
[11] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [8] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) 8-10, 9-4, 9-0, 9-1 (44m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [9] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) 9-5, 9-4, 10-8 (40m)
[6] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [12] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 9-5, 9-4, 9-3 (32m)
[5] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt [10] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 3-9, 9-2, 2-9, 9-2, 9-2 (56m)
[13] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [Q] Tenille Swartz (RSA) 9-1, 9-2, 9-2 (25m)
[7] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [15] Kasey Brown (AUS) 10-8, 9-10, 9-0, 3-9, 9-4 (68m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (AUS) bt [14] Engy Kheirallah (EGY) 9-5, 9-7, 9-5 (40m)