Alicia Mead Makes Maiden World Tour Quarter-Final In Cleveland

England's world No.54 Alicia Mead upset Egypt's Hana Ramadan in an exciting four-game clash to reach the first PSA World Tour quarter final of her career at Squash in the Land Presented by Greater Cleveland Squash in the USA.

The first game of the was particularly competitive with a close-fought tie break. The pair were inseparable as both players won their share of quick, aggressive rallies, but it was Mead that edged the first game 14-12 to take the lead in the match.

The match swayed in the Englishwoman's favour as she looked in control of the second game, earning an early 7-3 lead and maintaining the advantage to an 11-7 win.

Mead looked sluggish in the third game compared to her earlier squash as world No.30 Ramadan pushed to a 7-2 lead. The Egyptian halved the deficit, claiming her first game 11-5, but the 28-year-old seemed to be preserving her energy by the end in preparation for the next game.

Mead retook control of the match from the first rally of the fourth game. The Englishwoman took a quick 4-0 lead, encapsulated by a deceptive backhand straight drive that sent the Egyptian the wrong way.

The game continued in a similar vein, with Mead looking unstoppable as she pushed forward on the court and refused to let Ramadan back into the match to win 11-5, winning the match 3-1 to book a spot in her first World Tour quarter final.

"I'm really excited. I didn't expect this to be honest. I just thought I put in a really good performance," said the Birmingham-based 28-year-old after the match.

"It was a little edgy yesterday and I really wanted to get through so I loosened my arm and just went for it. I didn't have anything to lose.

"I played really clinically, executed the game plan exactly how I wanted to and stayed really calm throughout the match.

"I was just trying to find my game a little bit [in the first game]. I've not played her for a very long time. I knew the pace would be quite high and just tried to steady the ship a little bit.

"I knew that if I kept putting some hard work in I might leak a few errors which I did at the back end of that game."

Mead faces No.4 seed Sivasangari Subramaniam in the quarter finals.

"I played her in Malaysia a few months ago. She's a very very classy player. I'd love to play her style, I admire her a lot and I'd like to give it another go and get closer than I did last time."

On Court One at the Cleveland Racquet Club, home favourite Olivia Weaver secured her place in the last eight with a resounding lead over England's Grace Gear, and Egypt's Nour El Tayeb also progressed in three games, with the Egyptian taking only 16 minutes to claim victory over Latvia's Ineta Hopton.

In the men's draw, world No.58 Bernat Jaume progressed to the next round with a upset win over former world No.3 Omar Mosaad.