Home Stars Fall To Giantkillers Pajares & Evans In El Gouna

Spaniard Iker Pajares Bernabeu and Welsh No.1 Tesni Evans produced the biggest shocks in the last 16 round of the El Gouna International after ousting former World Champion Tarek Momen and world No.6 Nour El Tayeb, respectively, in the PSA World Tour Platinum event at the El Gouna Squash Complex in Egypt.

Unseeded Pajares came from behind to overcome No.7 seed Momen, a former world No.3. The Spanish No.1, who had lost his previous six meetings with the Egyptian, brought his losing career run to a halt by winning 3/1.

"I knew it would be tough today - I've played Tarek so many times but today I felt different on court," said the Barcelona-born 27-year-old. " I felt sharper and I saw his body language was gone and he was mentally very tired, so I kept fighting very hard and I managed to do it in four games. I still can't believe it!"

In their first meeting for more than four years, Evans downed El Tayeb in straight games, delivering a consummate performance against the Egyptian to book her place in the quarter-finals.

"I'm really happy with that. I thought I played really well and my game plan that I had before the match worked really well today," said the 30-year-old from Cardiff. "Of course you have to execute it, and I thought I played really well today."

Meanwhile on the glass court, top seeds Nouran Gohar and Diego Elias cruised into the quarter-finals with 3/0 wins over Fayrouz Aboelkheir and Eain Yow Ng, respectively.