Soliman Stuns Hesham To Reach US Open Quarters

Egypt's Youssef Soliman produced a sublime performance on day three of the US Open in Philadelphia to upset eighth-seeded compatriot Mazen Hesham to move into his second PSA World Tour Platinum event quarter-final at the Arlen Specter Squash Centre.

Hesham, the world No.8, came out in his usual attacking style in the opening game and looked to test the movement of Soliman early in the match. Soliman, ranked four places lower, was up to the task however and after trailing 10-8, executed four solid rallies to take the next four points and steal the first game 12-10.

Underdog Soliman carried this momentum through to the following game, hitting tight, accurate lines to the back corners to restrict Hesham's attacking opportunities. This back court pressure was forcing errors from the No.8 seed, much to Soliman's delight.

After Soliman secured a 2/0 lead, the score reached 6-6 in the third game. At this crucial point in the match, it was the younger Egyptian, Soliman, who rose to the occasion and displayed intelligent squash to further frustrate the fading Hesham. Several errors followed from the world No.8's racket which gave Soliman the win and a place in the last eight.

"I'm very pleased," said Soliman. "I just had not the best performance in San Francisco, but all credit to Aly [Abou Eleinen], he really made it hard for me to bounce back in this tournament. I played well against [Raphael] Kandra and again with Mazen [Hesham] and to beat Mazen in three is not easy, I had to push hard, especially in the beginning, but I think I got my tactics right and I'm happy with my performance more than the win.

"I have a rest day tomorrow, but I think to have matches like that in the bank is good, so I'm up against Marwan [ElShorbagy] and he's another top 10 player. He's a good friend of mine, but I'm hoping it will be a good match and I'll do my best to be ready for that."

Soliman's quarter final match will be another all-Egyptian encounter as he takes on world No.8 Marwan Elshorbagy. The younger Elshorbagy brother received a bye in round three with France's Lucas Serme unable to compete in the match due to the injury sustained in his round two match with Mostafa Asal.

The other men's quarter final match in the top half of the draw will be another all-Egyptian battle between No.1 seed Ali Farag and No.6 seed Tarek Momen as they defeated Miguel Rodriguez and Saurav Ghosal, respectively.

Rodriguez defeated Farag in the recent Qatar Classic but couldn't repeat his victory in Philadelphia. Farag moved the ball around the court expertly to take a convincing 2/0 lead and despite pressure from Rodriguez in the third game, Farag closed out the game 13-11 to take the match in straight games.

Momen booked his place in the quarter finals in similar fashion as he cruised to a commanding two-game lead against India's Saurav Ghosal and showed no signs of slowing down. Ghosal rallied back in the third game and forced a tiebreak to breathe more life into the contest. The No.6 seed played the big points well and managed to seal the game 14-12 to advance.

In the women's draw, world No.6 Nour El Tayeb closed out day three with a seeding upset over England's Sarah-Jane Perry on Glass Court East.

There is only one ranking place between the pair, but there was a chasm between them on court today, with El Tayeb looking full of confidence as she completely nullified Perry's attacking talents.

The 29-year-old required just 24 minutes to record an 11-3, 11-3, 11-8 victory over Perry to move into the last eight.

"I think today was one of my best performances since my comeback," said El Tayeb. "I think SJ didn't play very well, so it was a mixture of things. It's a big confidence boost to play well against someone like SJ. I don't like to play against each other because our games are a little bit similar, I don't like her style of play, it's not my favourite to play against.

"Maybe she doesn't like my style of play either, but so far it's been working and I haven't lost to her yet."

El Tayeb's quarter final opponent will be home favourite Amanda Sobhy who confidently overcame South Africa's Alexandra Fuller to progress to the last eight.

Sobhy picked up exactly where she left off in her match yesterday and found her length immediately to quickly dominate the middle and keep Fuller behind her. She used this position to continually volley the ball to take time away from her opponent and despite a better third game from Fuller, Sobhy won 3/0 to progress in 26 minutes.

Looking to her her upcoming match with El Tayeb, Sobhy said: "Yeah, so we're one-all so far this season, the rivalry just comes right back. I think we have great matches and, you know, she loves to smash racket on her leg against me. So maybe we'll go for racket number 10 on Wednesday!"

World No.1 Nouran Gohar advanced to the quarter finals in just 23 minutes as she was in top form to beat compatriot Yathreb Adel in straight games. Gohar dominated the opening two games, winning both games 11-4, before Adel was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Gohar will face fellow Egyptian and No.7 seed Rowan Elaraby in the last eight after the younger Egyptian defeated Belgium's Nele Gilis in a 55-minute four-game battle.

The Egyptian came out to a positive start, moving the ball around the court well and forcing Gilis into difficult positions on the court and took a 2/0 lead. Despite Gilis finding her length in the third game, Elaraby returned to her crisp length hitting in the fourth game and took the game 11-8 to move into the last eight.