Palm Hills Title Quests Underway For Favourites Asal & Gohar

World No.1s Mostafa Asal and Nouran Gohar kickstarted their title challenges on day two of the inaugural Palm Hills Open, claiming comprehensive wins over Ramit Tandon and Malak Khafagy, respectively, at Golf Central Mall in Cairo.

Less than a week after claiming his maiden World Championship title, top seed Asal stretched his winning run on the PSA Squash Tour to a career-best 15 matches with a power-packed 11-2, 11-5, 11-2 victory over India's Tandon.

Despite the quick turnaround from his historic feat in Chicago, which saw him become just the second male player to win the PSA World Championships without dropping a single game, Asal looked in top form right from point one, using his power and deception to consistently trouble Tandon throughout the 34-minute encounter.

After the match, Asal said: "The [World Championships] win was so emotional, but I'm straight back into another tournament. It is weird for any player, coming from a high like that and playing straight away.

"I literally live like two minutes from here, though; I'm going to the gym here, I'm practising here, I'm going out with my friends here, so it's just lovely to have a tournament where my friends and family can come and watch me. Hopefully, I can get the win this week."

Asal will be joined by fellow top seed Gohar in the quarter-finals of the Gold-level event after the 27-year-old powered past world No.32 Khafagy by an 11-8, 11-2, 11-5 scoreline.

Elsewhere, action on the traditional courts at the Palm Hills Club saw world No.46 Karim El Hammamy score the one seeding upset of the day as he defeated No.5 seed Fares Dessouky in four games.

El Hammamy's victory - his first over Dessouky since the World Junior Championships final in 2013 - ensured a maiden Gold-level quarter-final appearance awaits the 29-year-old in the next round.