Upsets & Injuries Characterise Australian Open Second Round

Five seeds crashed out of the Easy Times Brewing Co Squash Australian Open after a dramatic day of second round action in Brisbane.

In the men's event, half of the seeds departed as Youssef Soliman, Eain Yow Ng, Sebastien Bonmalais and Baptiste Masotti - the No.4, No.5, No.7 and No.8 seeds, respectively - exited, while in the women's event No.7 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir was a high profile casualty. Progressing through to the last eight at their expense were Egyptians Mohamad Zakaria and Yahya Elnawasany, Spain's Bernat Jaume, France's Auguste Dussourd and Malaysia's Aifa Azman.

In a career-best result, world No.42 Azman battled past Egyptian world No.12 Aboelkheir in a fiery clash on the traditional court at Sandgate Squash Club.

The Malaysian clinched a bad-tempered opening game 14-12 before being pegged back 7-11 in game two.

The 23-year-old recovered from the setback and, in a heated conclusion, regained the lead with an 11-9 win and then clinched game four on a tie break 12-10 to complete the upset and reach the quarter-finals of a PSA Gold-level event for the first time in her career.

"I'm so happy to make my first Gold quarter-finals," Azman said.

"The last year has been pretty hard for me last year since getting a few injuries; I've missed tournaments because I tore my quadricep and this is my first event of the year and I'm very happy to go through."

Also reaching a Gold quarter-final for the first time were Elnawasany, Dussourd and Jaume, with Elnawasany taking out French No.7 seed Bonmalais in a dominant 3/0 win and Dussourd beating compatriot and Masotti by the same scoreline to avenge his defeat to the No.8 seed at last week's New Zealand Open.

Jaume meanwhile, had been playing out a feisty match with defending champion Soliman on the show court at South Bank Piazza when, with the scores at one-all and Soliman 9-2 up in game three, the Egyptian No.4 seed pulled up clutching his calf. After receiving physio treatment, Soliman was unable to return to court, with Jaume consoling his opponent as they shook hands.

Unfortunately, Soliman was not the only player to exit with an injury today as No.5 seed Eain Yow Ng was also forced off with an injury in game five against 17-year-old Mohamad Zakaria.