Seeds Suffer In Toronto Tests

While defending champion and favourite Amanda Sobhy quickly progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Granite Open in Canada, seeds Nicolette Fernandes and Joey Chan both crashed out of the first round of the WSA International 25 squash event marking its fourth year at the Granite Club in Toronto.

Sixth seed Fernandes, the world No.20 from Guyana, took the opening two games against Malaysian Delia Arnold. But the Kuala Lumpur-born world No.28 soon recovered the advantage, closing out the next three games to score an impressive 10-12, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10 upset.

Arnold's reward is a clash with world No.10 Sobhy, the 21-year-old from the USA who took time out from her studies at Harvard University to defend her Toronto title. Sobhy despatched New Zealand qualifier Amanda Landers-Murphy 12-10, 11-1, 11-2 in just 22 minutes.

"Happy to be back at the Granite Open," said the young New Yorker. "When I saw it on the calendar, I knew I was going to miss that week of school because there was no way I was going to miss this event!"

It was Danish number one Line Hansen who caused the other upset, seeing off Joey Chan, the No.8 seed from Hong Kong, 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8.

Hansen, the world No.27 from Odense, will now face fourth seed Sarah-Jane Perry, the world No.16 from England competing in her first Tour event since winning the British National title last week against expectations.

"Joey has really good hands so I tried to give her as little time as possible," said Hansen after her shock win. "I think it worked in big parts of the match. Really happy with the win and looking forward to playing the British Champion tomorrow, aka SJ!! By the way LOVE this event!!"

Perry was made to work hard to earn her place in the last eight, needing 55 minutes to beat Welsh qualifier Deon Saffery 11-13, 11-7, 11-6, 12-10.

"That was tough," said 24-year-old Perry. "Deon was really up for it and played some great squash and made it very difficult for me.

"I love it here at Granite, so I am glad to be back but also looking forward to some rest before tomorrow's match."

Hopes of home success on day one looked strong when Canadian qualifier Samantha Cornett opened up a two-game lead over second seed Rachael Grinham.

But the experienced Australian, a former world number one and world champion, dug deep to claim a 9-11, 11-13, 13-11, 11-6, 11-6 victory in 55 minutes.

"I'm obviously happy to get through," said Grinham, the world No.12 from Queensland who stepped off the plane from Australia only hours before the match! "Sam really played well in the first two. I just hung in there and got the third and then mentally the match swung my way."

Grinham will now line up against seventh seed Joshana Chinappa, the Indian number two who joins Indian number one Dipika Pallikal in the quarter-finals.

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Amanda Sobhy (USA) v Delia Arnold (MAS)
[4] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Line Hansen (DEN)
[3] Dipika Pallikal (IND) v [5] Jenny Duncalf (ENG)
[2] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v [7] Joshana Chinappa (IND)