Willstrop Winds Back The Clock At US Open

38-year-old Englishman James Willstrop rolled back the years as he achieved a hugely impressive 3/1 victory over world No.5 Marwan Elshorbagy at the Arlen Specter Squash Center in Philadelphia to reach the third round of the US Open presented by Truist.

The former world No.1 this month dropped to his lowest world ranking (31) since November 2003 - but proved that class is permanent as his impeccable ball control was too much for fifth seed Elshorbagy to handle.

The Yorkshireman - making his 11th appearance in the event since 2004 - closed out a 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 victory in 47 minutes to ensure that he will take on Egypt's Mohamed Abouelghar for a place in the quarter-finals.

"I feel in shock a bit at the minute," said Willstrop, the 2007 runner-up.

"I haven't been anywhere near that level really. I think experience counts for a lot, but he's a great champion. I thought the way he played today and handled himself [was great].

"It's not easy being on the wrong end of it. I was playing well and he just handled himself so well at the end there, really lost in a champion's way and I admire that, he was a top man today."

Elshorbagy wasn't the only seeded player to bow out of the men's event in round two as his compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad - the No.6 seed - suffered a 3/0 defeat to Welshman Joel Makin, the world No.9.

Makin will take on Sebastien Bonmalais next after the French world No.58 upset world No.20 Omar Mosaad to reach the third round of a PSA World Tour Platinum event for the first time in his career.

"Gawad's obviously been in and out of form and with his body, but that doesn't make any difference to me," Makin said.

"He's a class player when he's on and is so dangerous. I knew I had to be aggressive with him and get across the middle and hit him off the ball, get on top of him and I couldn't let him play his shots. I wanted to inject pace and be aggressive. When I did that, I got on top of him."

Defending champion Ali Farag got his title challenge under way with a 3/0 win against India's Saurav Ghosal, and will now play fellow Egyptian Mazen Hesham for a place in the last eight. No.2 seed Mohamed Elshorbagy was also in action as he defeated Malaysia's Eain Yow Ng to set up a third round clash with fellow Egyptian Youssef Soliman.

In the women's event, world No.7 Sarah-Jane Perry completed a spectacular comeback against Egypt's world No.33 Zeina Mickawy, recovering from a 2/0 deficit and then overturning four match balls to book her place in the last 16.

Following her 12-14, 8-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-9 victory, Perry will line up against Wales' Emily Whitlock in the third round.

"I'm not quite sure how I won that," Perry said afterwards.

"For patches I got in front, but I didn't think I was actually taking advantage, I was just trying to keep pushing and pushing and [thinking] 'come on, you can do it'. When I'd saved those match ball in the third and the fourth, I just kept saying in the fifth 'keep going, there's a chance after those games that she's going to get edgy'. For a lot of the match, there was zero edginess in anything she was doing, and quite a lot in mine."

Meanwhile, defending champion Nouran Gohar got her title challenge underway with a comfortable 3/0 win over USA's Sabrina Sobhy and she will play England's Alison Waters in the next round.

"Usually when you come back to a tournament it's the same venue and you're only defending champion for one year, not two," said Gohar.

"In a way, I feel like it's a different tournament. It's good in a way as it's a fresh start, you have good memories in the back of your mind, but you don't take it for granted."

Perry's compatriot, Georgina Kennedy, will appear in the third round of a Platinum event for the first time in her career after the world No.51 stunned world No.10 Rowan Elaraby in just 25 minutes in the day's biggest upset. USA No.1 Amanda Sobhy also appeared on day two, beating Hong Kong's Ka Yi Lee in straight games, while world No.1 Nour El Sherbini beat Tsz-Wing Tong.