Naughton Comeback Carries Home Hopes Into Canadian Open Quarters

Canadian No.1 Hollie Naughton mounted an incredible comeback to keep home hopes alive as she defeated Nour Heikal to reach the quarter-finals of the Canadian Women's Open at Brookfield Place in Toronto.

At 2/0 down, world No.33 Naughton was looked to be exiting the PSA Squash Tour Silver event at the hands of world No.41 Heikal, which would have resulted in no Canadian representation for the quarter finals after her compatriot Nicole Bunyan lost out to Tesni Murphy earlier in the day.

However Naughton, with her home crowd in her corner, surged back in style to overturn the two-game deficit and triumph 9-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 in 54 minutes.

"It was quite the battle. I did think I was going to be going out in the first round and I didn't want to lose! That was the crux of it," said Naughton afterwards.

"Those battles are always difficult - it's not pleasant being on court with players who get quite physical like that and it feels like you're playing against multiple people. It's not quite as enjoyable but it's one that means a lot more when you do come through in the end and manage to turn them around.

"I'm really happy I managed to do that and I get to play again in front of a home crowd."

India's rising star Anahat Singh scored the biggest upset on day two after she downed world No.20 Melissa Alves 3/1 for a quarter-final berth.

The 17-year-old, ranked 23 places lower than Alves in the PSA World Rankings, advanced to the last eight of a Silver-level event for the first time after toppling the Frenchwoman, which was also her first victory against a player inside the top 20.

"I'm really happy. She is one of the top 20 so coming into the match I just tried to play my best because she's been playing really well," said Singh.

"I'm really happy I was able to play well today and I think this is my first time reaching the quarters of such a big event and I'm really excited."

Nardine Garas has also locked in her maiden last eight appearance at a Silver-level event after defeating the tournament's No.8 seed Lucy Beecroft. Defending champion Tinne Gilis dispatched Torrie Malik, while Gina Kennedy and Amanda Sobhy chalked up 3/0 successes over Marta Dominguez and Alicia Mead, respectively.

Top seed Amina Orfi - who was playing the final of the Comcast Business US Open in Philadelphia 24 hours prior - kicked off her campaign at this event with a comfortable 3/0 victory against Saran Nghiem.

Elsewhere in round two of the Toronto Athletic Club 2025, there were a number of surprise results, as world No.95 Mohamed Nasser beat world No.50 Muhammad Ashab Irfan 3/2, Perry Malik continues his excellent run at this event by taking down Veer Chotrani by the same scoreline and Mohamed Sharaf ousted the No.8 seed Matias Knudsen 3/1.