England’s George Parker stunned Spain’s Iker Pajares while his compatriot Marwan ElShorbagy fought back from the brink on day two of the GillenMarkets London Squash Classic.
World No.49 Parker, who upset World No.30 Auguste Dussourd, continued his run in front of a packed Alexandra Palace crowd with a brilliant performance against World No.17 Pajares.
Pajares, who beat Parker earlier this month at the Optasia Championships, had initially dominated the match only for Parker to score seven unanswered points from 4-7 down to take game one 11-7, with the 27-year-old completing the rout with another 11-7 win in game two.
Parker will face top seed Paul Coll in the quarter-final after the Kiwi beat USA’s Timothy Brownell 11-6, 11-0.
“It’s been a weird couple of years; I’d been finding it hard to get motivation. I’m very up and down mentally, a bit unstable in my day-to-day life but playing in an arena like this makes me appreciate what a sport it is,” Parker reflected after the match.
Joining Parker in the quarter-final is his compatriot ElShorbagy, after the England No.2 came back from being match ball down to beat Germany’s Raphael Kandra to set up a quarter-final with Welsh No.4 seed Joel Makin, who dispatched England’s Adrian Waller in straight games.
In the women’s event, Egyptian top seed Nour El Sherbini overcame stern resistance from Wales’ Tesni Murphy in an entertaining clash.
World No.1 El Sherbini looked comfortable after taking the opening game 11-5, only for the determined Murphy to level with an 11-6 win in game two.
The top seed quickly snuffed out any thought of a shock defeat, though. The Egyptian took the lead early in game three and never relinquished it, booking a quarter-final against Malaysian No.7 seed Sivasangari Subramaniam- who beat England’s Katie Malliff 11-6, 11-7 – with an 11-6 win of her own.
“[At 1-1] when it’s best of three, knowing you only have one more game made me a bit nervous. But I had a good start and I’m glad I kept the momentum,” El Sherbini said afterwards.
Also through to the quarter-finals are English No.5 seed Georgina Kennedy and Belgian No.4 seed Nele Gilis, with the pair to face off on Saturday after beating English duo Lucy Turmel and Jasmine Hutton, respectively.
Results – Women’s Second Round (top half): GillenMarkets London Squash Classic
[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt Tesni Murphy (WAL) 2-1: 11-5, 6-11, 11-6 (35m) [7] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Katie Malliff (ENG) 2-0: 11-6, 11-7 (21m) [5] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Lucy Turmel (ENG) 2-0: 11-8, 11-7 (24m) [4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Jasmine Hutton (ENG) 2-1: 11-9, 6-11, 11-4 (40m)Results – Men’s Second Round (top half): GillenMarkets London Squash Classic
[1] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Timothy Brownell (USA) 2-0: 11-6, 11-0 (20m)George Parker (ENG) bt [8] Iker Pajares (ESP) 2-0: 11-7, 11-7 (35m)
[5] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) bt Raphael Kandra (GER) 2-1: 11-3, 5-11, 13-11 (41m) [4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 2-0: 11-7, 11-2 (23m)Draw – Women’s Second Round (bottom half): To be played 29 March
[3] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v Hollie Naughton (CAN)Alicia Mead (ENG) v [6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[8] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) v Emily Whitlock (WAL)Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v [2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY)
Draw – Men’s Second Round (bottom half): To be played 29 March
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Eain Yow Ng (MAS) [WC] Declan James (ENG) v [6] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) [7] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) v Nathan Lake (ENG)Nick Wall (ENG) v [2] Mostafa Asal (EGY)