Former Penn Star Eleinen Defeats US No.1 To Reach US Open Last 16

University of Pennsylvania squash alumnus Aly Abou Eleinen delivered one of the standout performances of day two at the Comcast Business US Open Championships, defeating American No.1 Timothy Brownell in four games at the Platinum-level event.

Eleinen, who previously studied and competed in the heart of Philadelphia at UPenn, backed up his recent visit to the semi-finals of the Silicon Valley Open with a 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 victory over Brownell at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center.

In a see-saw match that saw several swings in momentum, the contrasting styles of play from both players were evident, with Brownell looking to open up the court with his free-flowing style of squash and Eleinen attempting to play with tight lines and lengths down both side walls.

With Eleinen 6-1 down in the fourth game, the match looked destined for a decider, but the world No.15 showed terrific resolve to first draw himself level and subsequently go on to seal the win in just under an hour of action.

After the match, Eleinen said: "That's a big win for me. Timmy is never an easy player to come up against, especially on this court. He's probably the person who trains on this court the most, he probably knows every inch of this court, so it was really tough today.

"The court was really dead today and I found it tough to find my length, even until the end. I just kept digging deep and fighting.

"It's so nice playing here. Seeing familiar faces and walking around in Philadelphia, it feels like my second home. I have got my family and friends here, so hopefully I can keep going."

Meanwhile, in the women's draw, No.5 seed Nele Coll produced her most accomplished performance of the season so far, knocking out home favourite Amanda Sobhy in three games.

The recently-married Belgian No.1 has endured a tricky start to the campaign, losing out in the quarter-finals of both the Paris Squash and QTerminals Qatar Classic, but displayed the levels that saw her reach world No.4 last season to progress to victory in just 35 minutes of play.

Current World Champions Diego Elias and Nouran Gohar also got their US Open Championships campaigns underway with respective three-game victories over Auguste Dussourd and Tesni Murphy.