Shocks In Shanghai As Giantkillers Lau & Zakaria Mark Maiden Silver Quarter-Finals

Hong Kong's Tsz Kwan Lau and Egyptian teen star Mohamad Zakaria recorded a pair of shock wins in Shanghai as they sent the Swiss sixth and fifth seeds Nicolas Mueller and Dimitri Steinmann crashing out of the China Open to reach the quarter-finals of a PSA Squash Tour Silver event for the first time in their careers.

Having already performed heroics in coming from behind to beat Japan's Ryunosuke Tsukue in the first round at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, world No.44 Lau had to dig deep again today at the Royal Marshall Club against former world No.13 Mueller.

The 28-year-old, whose intense all-action style was a fascinating contrast with the maverick shotmaking of Mueller, looked strong early on as he edged the opener via a tie break, only to be reigned in as Mueller moved into the lead with 11-7 and 13-11 wins.

Lau recovered from the setback and came through another tie break to force a fifth game, which he clinched 11-7 to record a famous win and earn a matchup with England's former world No.1 and defending China Open champion Mohamed ElShorbagy.

"Today's a big result, of course I feel amazing! This was my third time playing him and I'd never beaten him before. I really played my best and used everything I have to win this," Lau said afterwards.

Zakaria, meanwhile, continued his seemingly unstoppable ascent to the top of the game with another strong performance against a higher-ranked player.

The 17-year-old world No.36, who earlier this year became the youngest male World Junior Champion in squash history, has quickly established a reputation as one to watch on the professional circuit after wins over the likes of Gregoire Marche and Leandro Romiglio in recent weeks, and today saw another milestone achieved by the Alexandrian as he recorded a comprehensive victory over world No.19 Steinmann.

In a stop-start clash, Zakaria took into a 2/0 lead with 11-7, 11-8 wins to move into a dominant position.

Steinmann fought hard in early on in game three as he attempted to wrestle back control but appeared to be moving gingerly and, after an even start, he wilted as Zakaria pulled away from 5-4 to 11-5 to deliver the shock in straight games and set up a quarter-final against No.3 seed Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia, who beat Egypt's Yahya Elnawasany 3/1.

"Today was a very important match and I was so ready for it!" Zakaria said.

"I watched him several times and I executed my game plan very well. I'm so proud of myself today and super pumped for tomorrow's match to hopefully make my first Silver semi final."

Steinmann and Mueller were not the only seeds to fall in Shanghai, with men's No.8 seed Curtis Malik also exiting early as he lost out to former world No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar.

Meanwhile, in the women's draw, matches went to seedings, though Malaysian No.8 seed Aira Azman had to survive a Halloween scare as she recovered from going a game down to Egypt's Salma Eltayeb to record a 10-12, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 win.

Azman will go up against another Egyptian in the last eight, No.4 seed Sana Ibrahim, who beat Hong Kong's Ka Yi Lee in straight games.