Chan Charges Into NetSuite Quarters

Hong Kong's Chan Sin Yuk reduced home hopes in the women's Oracle NetSuite Open after upsetting sixth seed Olivia Clyne to secure an unexpected place in the quarter finals of the PSA World Tour Silver event in San Francisco.

Egypt's unseeded Aly Abou Eleinen maintained his giant-killing run in the men's event after overcoming compatriot Youssef Soliman, the seventh seed, to make the last eight.

World No.36 Chan Sin Yuk has been in impressive form heading into this week's event, winning her previous two events in Australia in convincing fashion. After defeating wildcard Riya Navani in round one, Sin Yuk continued her fine form as she came up against USA's Olivia Clyne for a place in the last eight. Sin Yuk wasted no time in taking the ball short as she dominated the middle of the court and forced Clyne into several tough movements in the front corners.

Clyne tried her best to get into the match but the accuracy of her younger opponent was simply too good. After just 15 minutes, the 20-year-old secured her place in the biggest quarter final of her career, winning 11-5, 11-7.

"This is the first time I've made it through to a PSA Silver event quarter final so that's really big for me and I'm really pleased with this result," said Chan. "I'll play either Amanda [Sobhy] or Sana [Ibrahim] tomorrow but I always watched Amanda on SQUASHTV and I love watching her play so I'm hoping I get to play her."

Sin Yuk's hopes came true later in the evening as No.1 seed Amanda Sobhy secured her place in the quarter finals after a confident 2/0 win over Egypt's Sana Ibrahim. Earlier in the day, No.2 seed Joelle King booked her place in the final four as she beat Hong Kong's Tomato Ho in straight games to progress. King's opponent will be USA's Sabrina Sobhy, who overcame talented Egyptian Zeina Mickawy in a 20-minute 2/0 to move into her first Silver event quarter final.

The top four men's seeds all advanced on the all-glass court at Pier 70 in San Francisco in different styles. No.3 seed, Mazen Hesham, was first to book his place in the last eight as he overcame India's Ramit Tandon in a hard-fought three games with errors from Tandon at a crucial time in the third game heavily aiding the Egyptian. Both ElShorbagy brothers [Mohamed and Marwan] recorded business-like straight sets victories over Mahesh Mangaonkar and Cesar Salazar, respectively, whilst top seed Diego Elias was in sumptuous form as he cruised to victory over USA's Faraz Khan.

The play was again spread across different venues in round two with matches taking place at the University Club, Olympic Club and Squash Zone Club in the afternoon. Egypt's Aly Abou Eleinen scored an upset in round one beating Qatar's Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi and continued his run in the event by taking out compatriot and No.7 seed Youssef Soliman in a mammoth three-game match at the Olympic Club to reach the quarter finals.

Eleinen took the first game, which have been described by players as crucial in the best of three format, by hitting his targets accurately to the back of the court to set up attacking opportunities. Soliman responded in the second to equalise and after a scrappy third game, it was Eleinen who kept his concentration best to close out a nail-biting third game 14-12.

"It feels amazing," said Eleinen. "I had ten good days of training before this tournament to prepare and coming into a silver event, I didn't feel any pressure, It's on the more experienced guys. I just wanted to enjoy my squash and give it my best.

"I've actually played both Al Tamimi and Soliman before and against Soliman, I lost a close 80-minute match and this time I just wanted to give it my best. Given the best of three, I had to warm up well to give myself the best chance. At 12-12 in the third game, I had to just try and stay tough and control the controllables. Being in the quarter finals of a Silver event is massive for me and regardless of who I play, just want to enjoy the moment and give it my all."

Over at the University Club, Canada's Hollie Naughton had to dig deep to overcome in form Malaysian Rachel Arnold to progress to the last eight, winning 11-9 in the third game. The pair had played twice before on the PSA World Tour with Arnold winning the most recent encounter back in February this year. Naughton was sharp from the outset and by mixing the pace, pinned Arnold in the back corners and attacked intelligently to take the opening game 11-4. Despite the Malaysian equalising, Naughton was able to maintain her focus and play the big points well to take the final game 11-9 and advance.

Just two matches took place at the Squash Zone Club in Redwood City, with both seeded players progressing to the next round. India's Saurav Ghosal overcame England's George Parker in a three-game encounter just shy of the hour mark. Whilst Scotland's Lisa Aitken needed all three games to defeat France's Marie Stephan to advance to the last eight.