Massaro Moves Into World Championship Last 16

Former champion Laura Massaro began her Orascom Development PSA Women's World Championship campaign in successful style by overcoming Egypt's Mariam Metwally in straight games on day two of first round action in El Gouna, Egypt.

The world No.2 from England, who claimed the biggest title on the women's Tour three years ago and finished as runner-up last year, made her winning 2017 start with an 11-7, 11-7, 11-3 victory in 30 minutes.

"I took her extremely seriously," said 33-year-old Massaro of the 20-year-old ranked 23 places lower.

"I know how good she is, and this is the first round of the World Championship, so I wanted to play as well as I could and not to take any chances."

The Englishwoman will be joined in round two by Egypt's Raneem El Welily, who beat England's former world No.2 Jenny Duncalf to move to within one win of a potential quarter-final matchup with Massaro.

El Welily, the world No.4, squandered four championship balls to Malaysia's Nicol David the last time the Women's World Championship was held in Egypt in 2014, but kickstarted her tournament with a 3/0 triumph over 34-year-old Duncalf.

The Egyptian prevailed in a crucial first-game tie-break, which allowed her to press on to record her 13-11, 11-7, 11-5 victory.

"It's the first day, the first match, the first time at this venue, so I was trying to play a little bit basic to start with," said El Welily.

"You could see at the beginning that my shots weren't as accurate as they could have been, but my mindset was okay, so I wasn't upset that I made the errors, I was actually feeling that I was on the right track.

"Jenny is a really experienced player and every time I play her it's extremely hard. Just like that, she scores with some unbelievable boasts. I'm just happy to be through today. It's one point at a time, I have no bad memories, everything is good."

El Welily will face US No.2 Olivia Blatchford, who became the only unseeded player to reach round two after an impressive five-game win over Australia's Donna Urquhart, the 15th seed.

World No.3 Camille Serme also earned her place in the second round after coming through against world No.21 Salma Hany Ibrahim, winning 11-6, 11-5, 11-8.

Last year's World Championship saw Serme bow out at the quarter-final stage and the French star is using the memory of that disappointment to spur her onto greater things this time around.

"Last year, I had a lot of expectations at the Worlds, but when I lost to Nouran (Gohar) in the quarters it was a really big disappointment," she said.

"It was the end of the season and I don't want to feel that way again. I know I've won two big titles this year, I know I can do well, but everyone is strong at the moment, especially the girls from the top eight and you never know what can happen. I just take it match-by-match and I really focus on what to do on court."

Serme will face England's Emily Whitlock for a place in the quarter-final after the world No.13 progressed courtesy of a win over French qualifier Coline Aumard.

England's Alison Waters will meet India's Joshna Chinappa in the other second round fixture, with the duo claiming respective wins over qualifiers Hana Ramadan and Misaki Kobayashi.