Alnasfan & Silva Make History For Saudi Arabia & Brazil At World Junior Championships

Mohammed Alnasfan and Laura Silva made history for Saudi Arabia and Brazil as they became their nations' first ever representatives in the last 16 round of the WSF World Junior Championships after both players recorded gritty five-game wins at Black Ball Sporting Club in Cairo.

Alnasfan's victory came courtesy of a gruelling double-header, with the 16-year-old upsetting 9/16 seed Oliver Dunbar of New Zealand in the morning before going one better with a hard-fought 3/2 win over England's Dylan Roberts in the third round in the afternoon.

That win over Roberts was a see-saw encounter, with Alnasfan retrieving well as the pair traded periods of dominance.

Alnasfan looked to have won it in four games when he led 7-6 while 2/1 up, only for a valiant effort from Roberts - who spent several minutes of game four retrieving physio treatment after landing heavily - to dig in and force a fifth game.

Alnasfan wasn't to be denied, though, and he powered home in game five 11-3 against the struggling Englishman.

"I'm so happy to have achieved this," Alnasfan said afterwards. "My thanks to my coaches and everyone at the Saudi Squash Federation for their support."

Women's 9/16 seed Silva, meanwhile, will be Brazil's first ever representative in the last 16 after fighting back in a tough five-gamer with England's Emily Coulcher-Porter.

Coulcher-Porter, who utilises her ambidexterity to play the forehand on both sides of the courts, tested Silva's reading of the game early on to clinch the opener 13-11.

Silva responded well with a dominant 11-4 win in game two and then moved ahead 11-7 in game three before Coulcher-Porter defended well to edge a second tie-break 12-10.

Silva, however, did not panic. Cheered on by the vocal Brazil contingent, the 17-year-old held her nerve to record another 11-7 win and earn a matchup on the glass court with No.2 seed Anahat Singh of India, who cruised past France's Ines Guyot.

Elsewhere, there were more seeding upsets in both events. In the men's competition, unseeded American Muhammad Haq impressed as he took out Canadian 9/16 seed Youssef Sarhan in straight games, while in the women's competition Scotland's Robyn McAlpine fought back from two games down to beat English 9/16 seed Mariam Eissa.

Hosts Egypt, meanwhile, continued to press on through the event, with their only casualty being Talia Zakaria, the 15-year-old younger sister of top men's seed Mohamed Zakaria who went down to compatriot and defending champion Amina Orfi in a one-sided contest.