Ramy Ashour Out Of US Open

Three-time World Champion Ramy Ashour's campaign in the 2015 Delaware Investments US Open ended in misery on day three as the 28-year-old Egyptian was forced to concede his second round match against Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet after just a handful of points.

Meanwhile top-seeded compatriots Mohamed Elshorbagy and Raneem El Welily successfully negotiated their respective encounters.

Ashour, the charismatic talent from Cairo, has endured an injury-plagued 18 months on the PSA World Tour - failing to compete in more than two consecutive events since limping off court against Nick Matthew at the 2013 PSA World Championship in England. Victory at Drexel University in Philadelphia would have seen Ashour reignite his ferocious rivalry with world No.1 Elshorbagy - but his injury woes appeared to strike again as he exited the court after less than five minutes of action to hand victory to World No.9 Castagnet.

"It's really difficult for me to be happy to win like this," said Castagnet. "Ramy is such a great and fair player and we all want to see him playing because he's such a special player so it's very hard to be happy right now.

"It's a busy period on the tour so it's important that we all work hard and manage our bodies well in order to perform at all these events and I'll go away and prepare for the next round now."

Castagnet will now take on defending champion Elshorbagy after the 24-year-old from Alexandria secured his quarter-final berth with a comfortable straight games win over Scotland's Greg Lobban, withstanding an early onslaught from the World No.38 before easing to an 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 win.

"I have great memories of playing here in Philadelphia especially as winning and becoming number one here last year was a great moment for me," said Elshorbagy.

"I love playing here so I'm pleased to get through today and keep my tournament hopes alive for another round. Greg is a good player and I admire how he plays but I'm happy that I was able to get the win today.

"I'm going to have a tough match on Wednesday with Mathieu because he's always a very tough guy to play. The last time we played he won so I'll certainly have to be at my best if I'm to get through that one."

In the women's draw world No.1 El Welily continued her journey towards a maiden US Open title with victory over former World No.2 Jenny Duncalf in an entertaining four-game encounter.

The 26-year-old was caught flat as Duncalf, the current World No.17 from England who is competing in her 18th year on the PSA Tour, came out on fire hitting a succession of flamboyant winners to take the first game. But El Welily showed the composure and skill that has taken her to the top of the rankings as she overturned the deficit to complete an impressive come from behind 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 victory and set up a last eight encounter with compatriot Nour El Tayeb.

"She was playing really well and taking every opportunity that was put in front of her in that first game especially so I had to come out more alert in the second game," said El Welily.

"It's great to see her playing so well again but I'm happy to be through to the next round. It's definitely going to be hard playing against a friend like Nour but it's a great time for Egypt at the minute with five girls in the top ten - so we all know we'll have to play each other at some point."

El Tayeb booked her place in the quarter-finals courtesy of a straightforward victory over England's Emma Beddoes, while 2014 runner-up Nour El Sherbini had to dig deep to complete a hat trick of Egyptian wins and avoid a shock defeat against Australian qualifier Donna Urquhart.