Revenge For Marwan As ElShorbagy Brothers Take Home Hopes Into British Open Quarters

England No.1 Marwan ElShorbagy avenged his PSA World Championship defeat to Youssef Soliman with an emphatic win over the Egyptian to reach the quarter-final of the GillenMarkets British Open at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Marwan will be joined by his older brother Mohamed ElShorbagy in the next round, though there was no fairytale ending for local hero Sarah-Jane Perry, as the 35-year-old former world No.5 called time on her career after a defeat to reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini.

Three weeks ago, Soliman came back from a game down to defeat ElShorbagy junior in the round of 16 at the PSA World Championship, rubbing salt into the wound with a bagel (11-0) in the final game.

In Birmingham, the newly-elevated world No.5 had his revenge. Playing a careful style of squash, ElShorbagy carefully managed a cagey encounter with the world No.9 and came close to scoring a bagel of his own when leading 8-0 in game two, before eventually recording an 11-9, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6 win.

"I was thinking about [scoring a bagel]" the Alexandria-born Englishman admitted afterwards. "But I'm very happy. Youssef has been more solid than previous seasons. He's in the top 10 now and deserves to be."

ElShorbagy will face two-time British Open champion Paul Coll of New Zealand after the world No.3 overcame Egyptian qualifier and University of Birmingham scholar Moustafa Elsirty in straight games.

Elsewhere in the men's draw, England's world No.8 Mohamed ElShorbagy - a three-time British Open champion - earned a quarter-final matchup against world No.2 and "best friend on tour" Diego Elias of Peru.

ElShorbagy, champion in 2015, 2016 and 2019, overcame 17-year-old world No.16 and World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria of Egypt, while Elias eased past world No.36 Juan Vargas of Colombia.

In the women's event, England's former world No.5 Sarah-Jane Perry's professional career drew to a close with a creditable defeat to world No.2 Nour El Sherbini.

35-year-old Perry, from nearby Kenilworth, had announced before the event that this edition of the British Open - her 13th - would be her last as she would be retiring after her final match.

The world No.25 briefly threatened a fairytale result as 'the Gladiator,' took the opening game against El Sherbini, but the Egyptian proved too strong in the end, recording a 10-12, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 win.

El Sherbini will play No.8 seed Amanda Sobhy after the American defeated Egypt's Hana Moataz in straight games.

In the other women's matches, US No.3 seed Olivia Weaver defeated Egypt's Fayrouz Aboelkheir 3/0 and Belgium's Nele Gilis-Coll - looking back to her best in Birmingham after a troubled season - defeated Egypt's Sana Ibrahim 3/1.