Sivasangari Fightback Sees Hany Reach Third Successive Surprise El Gouna Quarter Final

On an exciting day at the El Gouna International Open in Egypt, home hope Salma Hany scored the only upset of the day as she recovered from 2/0 down to beat Malaysia's No.7 seed Sivasangari Subramaniam and secure a place in her third successive El Gouna quarter-final against expectations.

Hany featured in the third match of the top-half second round fixtures and faced Sivasangari for the first time since this event took place three years ago. Only two places separate the pair in the rankings so a tight match was expected.

Both players held nothing back in the opening game, both looking to take the ball short and attack on the volley. The Malaysian did this the better of the two as she edged ahead on the scoreboard to 10-8, after a lovely finish by Hany to save one game ball, the Malaysian responded in equal fashion to score the opening game. Subramaniam took the momentum from the opening game and ran with it, steamrolling the second game 11-4 to lead 2/0 and place one foot in the next round.

With nothing to lose, Hany came out firing in the following two games. She tightened up her squash and started to force errors from the Malaysian, who was quickly losing the early games momentum as Hany's confidence started to grow. Hany, spurred on by the home crowd, claimed the third game 11-7 and quickly levelled the match at 2/2 by taking the fourth 11-2.

As the match entered the crucial fifth game, momentum was fully with the Egyptian as she looked to recover from 2/0 down. Hany held a lead all the way through the fifth game and closed the match out with a beautiful backhand volley drop. A third successive quarter final in El Gouna for the world No.13.

"I was a little bit surprised with my start," admitted Hany.

"I was feeling well, I had a good warm up, but I couldn't execute the plan I wanted to implement very well. My shots weren't very accurate at all, so at 2/0 down, I told myself: 'I haven't played yet. I'm not ready to go home until I'm all out. This is not your calibre anymore, not your standards, just go all out today.'

"I wasn't as accurate as yesterday and you can't be 100% accurate everyday but you have to dig deep and find a way. It's not going to be rainbows every day!

"I just kept believing that I could produce good squash, and she was going to break down. I kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and once I found the door opened up slightly, I kept telling myself 'don't take your foot off the gas, keep pushing, keep pushing'. Even when I had a lead, I made sure I didn't relax for one bit."

Hany will now face No.3 seed Hania El Hammamy in the last eight after her fellow Egyptian made light work of compatriot Sana Ibrahim on the glass court. Georgina Kennedy and Nouran Gohar will contest the other top half quarter final in the women's draw after they beat Egyptian duo Farida Mohamed and Malak Khafagy.

All seeds progressed in the men's draw on day two. Former champions Ali Farag and Mohamed Elshorbagy needed just three games to see off spirited efforts from Jonah Bryant and Baptiste Masotti whilst Joel Makin and Youssef Soliman surrendered single games against Aly Abou Eleinen and Curtis Malik on their way to the last eight.