Major Giza Upset As Eain Yow Stuns Asal To Reach L16

Malaysia's Eain Yow Ng claimed a second major scalp in a month with a shock win over world No.9 Mostafa Asal which sends the 23-year-old into the third round of the CIB Egyptian Open, the PSA World Tour Platinum event in Giza.

It was at last month's Allam British Open that the world No.18 upset former World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad - a win which helped the Malaysian break into the top 20. But Asal - Egypt's reigning CIB PSA World Tour Finals champion - was the heavy favourite going into the second round clash at the New Giza Sporting Club.

However, Eain Yow did not allow himself to be affected by fervent home support in Asal's favour and kept his focus during occasional stoppages in play from his opponent, closing out an 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 victory in 50 minutes.

"My team and I believed I could do it, but I know that everyone believed he would be the winner," said Eain Yow, who will face Colombia's Miguel Rodriguez next.

"He is playing the best squash in the last few months. The way he was playing is at the top of our game, so I had to believe in myself. That is the biggest difference this season.

"I actually believe in myself, and I'm not afraid to play anyone. I believe that I can beat anyone on the day and that's the difference, the gain in confidence in my own game. I just did my job."

World No.7 Fares Dessouky also saw his tournament come to an end after the Egyptian was forced to retire from his match with USA's Shahjahan Khan due to a back injury.

Even from game one, Dessouky was clearly not comfortable on court and walked gingerly in between rallies, but his shot-making skills were so potent that he was still able to take a 2/0 lead. He then held three match balls to put himself on the brink of a gritty victory, but was unable to finish off a tenacious Khan off as the world No.45 rattled off five points in succession to halve the deficit, before Dessouky eventually shook hands in the fourth.

"He had issues before the match as well," Khan said.

"I didn't see it at the start but as the match went along, I realised something was wrong. I tried to move him around just to expose his movement. It's a shame that the match had to end that way as he is a great player."

Top seed Mohamed Elshorbagy also got his tournament underway with victory against Frenchman Baptiste Masotti, while defending champion Ali Farag also beat French opposition in Gregoire Marche.

In the women's event, Egypt's Farida Mohamed followed up her shock win against world No.7 Sarah-Jane Perry at last year's CIB Egyptian Open with a 3/1 win over the English player.

Mohamed memorably claimed a huge upset at this venue last year when she overcame Perry in straight games, and the 19-year-old ensured that lightning struck twice as she put in another powerful display to take out one of the top seeds.

"I just tried to move her as much as I could," said Mohamed.

"I don't think I was blocking or on the way, I was just actually trying to keep her away from me as much I could to be able to play as she is very tall. She pushed me more than once, I don't mind because I'm sure she didn't mean it, it's part of the game. I was satisfied with my movement today, I don't think I did anything and the ref didn't mention anything."

Mohamed's compatriot - Jana Shiha - will appear in the third round of a Platinum event for the first time after the world No.55 completed a surprise victory against world No.14 Nadine Shahin.

Shiha's round one over France's Enora Villard was a relatively one-sided affair, but this time around the 20-year-old had to dig in and hold her nerve to complete an 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 14-12 victory in 42 minutes. Shiha's reward is a clash with No.7 seed Salma Hany.

"I was a couple of match balls up in the last game I think and then I did a lot of tins," Shiha said.

"I'm pretty happy with the way I did it today. In the fourth game, she got that one eventually, but for the rest of the match I was tougher than usual, I played steady, at least at the end. I'm happy and I'm proud of myself today with the way I played."

Defending champion Nour El Sherbini made a winning start with a 3/0 win against Wales' Emily Whitlock and she will take on Canada's Danielle Letourneau in the last 16. No.2 seed Nouran Gohar was also in action as she overcame world No.17 Hollie Naughton in straight games.