Arnold Ousts Elaraby In Egyptian Open Shock

Unseeded Malaysian Rachel Arnold produced the biggest upset of day two of the CIB Egyptian Open when she removed world No.7 Rowan Elaraby to reach the third round of the PSA World Tour Platinum event in Cairo.

Arnold, the world No.26, defeated the Egyptian in five games to claim her unexpected place in the last 16.

The 26-year-old, who defeated young Egyptian wildcard Nour Heikal in the first round, took the first game 12-10. Seventh seed Elaraby drew level when she won the second game 11-8, but Arnold came roaring back to reclaim her lead with an 11-9 victory in the third.

It was the third time the pair had met on the PSA World Tour, and Elaraby fought back again to make it two-all heading into the decider.

But it proved to be a comfortable triumph for Arnold, who brushed aside Elaraby 11-2 to confirm her place in the next round.

"It feels great! Rowan is a top ten player too, but it felt a bit more comfortable today and I went all in for the win," Arnold said afterwards.

"It's a big event, so getting past round two makes me really happy so I'm glad to be moving into round three tomorrow.

"It was quite comfortable, but I had to really fight in the first three games. I'm happy with my performance. I have nothing to lose so I will give my best and hopefully I can play well again tomorrow."

There was another rankings upset in the women's draw as Melissa Alves came from behind to knock out English No.8 seed Georgina Kennedy.

Meanwhile in the men's draw, German No.1 Raphael Kandra fought back to edge his way past former world No.3 Omar Mosaad to advance to round three.

An entertaining match-up went the distance and, despite Mosaad taking a 1/0 lead after winning game one 11-8, Kandra clinched the second and third games to go 2/1 up.

Mosaad forced a decisive fifth game when he claimed the fourth 11-7, but it was Kandra, in his first appearance of the tournament, who prevailed in the fifth 11-4.

The 31-year-old will meet world No.1 Ali Farag in the next round.

"It was a tough encounter against Mosaad. I found it hard to know which game plan I should go with because he's so tall and strong at the T line," said Kandra.

"Sometimes it works, sometimes it didn't, but overall I'm glad I got through and now I'm getting ready to go on the glass court tomorrow. This was a good fight for me, overall there was a lot of ups and downs.

"In the fifth I stuck to my game plan a bit more. It could have been easier but a win's a win and that's important for me."

Elsewhere, in one of the most dramatic matches of the day, Abdulla Al-Tamimi survived a fightback from Switzerland's Dimitri Steinmann to move into the next round.

In the evening session on the glass court, the top two seeds in the men's and women's draws booked their third round places with ease.