Malaysia’s Delia Arnold recorded a sensational second successive upset in the Allam British Open Squash Championships – and became the first qualifier to reach the quarter-finals of the WSA World Series event in Hull – when she beat Hong Kong’s No.11 seed Annie Au in her ‘best ever’ result in today’s second round clash on the all-glass court at the Airco Arena.<\/p>\n
Just 24 hours after ousting England’s fifth seed Alison Waters, Malaysian number three Arnold, ranked 29 in the world, recovered from a game down to beat the Hong Kong No.1 – ranked 18 places higher – 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 in 53 minutes to reach the world-renowned event’s quarter-finals for the first time.<\/p>\n
“That’s definitely the best result of my career,” said the 29-year-old from Selangor (pictured above, right, with Au) afterwards. “I’m really happy to be in the quarter finals of one of the biggest events in the world – the squash has been great for me so far so I just have to keep the momentum going.<\/p>\n
“Squash originates in England so it’s amazing to be in the British Open quarter finals.<\/p>\n
“My main goal today was to stay focused, be patient and keep the rallies going and try not to make any errors – so I think I did pretty well today.”<\/p>\n
Arnold now has a tough task on her hands when she takes on world No.2 Raneem El Welily on Friday for a place in the semi-finals. The second seed ended fellow Egyptian Yathreb Adel’s golden run when she beat the 19-year-old qualifier from Cairo – the reigning British Universities champion – 11-5, 11-5, 12-10.<\/p>\n
India’s hopes of a first ever women’s quarter-finalist were dashed by Camille Serme when the sixth seed from France cruised to an 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 victory in just 26 minutes over Dipika Pallikal, the No.9 seed from Chennai.<\/p>\n
Serme, the world No.6 from Creteil, will now line up against Egypt’s fourth seed Nour El Sherbini. Runner-up in 2012, the 19-year-old from Alexandria ended South African interest in the event when she defeated Cape Town-based qualifier Siyoli Waters 11-2, 11-8, 11-5.<\/p>\n
RESULTS: Allam British Open Squash Championships, Hull, England<\/strong><\/p>\n Women’s 2nd round (lower half of draw): Malaysia’s Delia Arnold recorded a sensational second successive upset in the Allam British Open Squash Championships – and became the first qualifier to reach the quarter-finals of the WSA World Series event in Hull – when she beat Hong Kong’s No.11 seed Annie Au in her ‘best ever’ result in today’s second round clash on the all-glass court at the Airco Arena.<\/p>\n Just 24 hours after ousting England’s fifth seed Alison Waters, Malaysian number three Arnold, ranked 29 in the world, recovered from a game down to beat the Hong Kong No.1 – ranked 18 places higher – 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 in 53 minutes to reach the world-renowned event’s quarter-finals for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-others"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/strong>
[6] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [9] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 (26m)
[4] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [Q] Siyoli Waters (RSA) 11-2, 11-8, 11-5 (24m)
[Q] Delia Arnold (MAS) bt [11] Annie Au (HKG) 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 (53m)
[2] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [Q] Yathreb Adel (EGY) 11-5, 11-5, 12-10 (36m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"