Welsh pair Tesni Evans and Deon Saffery are through to the women’s doubles squash quarter-finals at the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Rhyl-based Evans and Barry’s Saffery, ranked fourth at the Games, will play fourth seeds Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart (Australia).

Peter Creed, from Rhiwbina SRC in Cardiff, and Pembrokeshire’s Joel Makin went out of the men’s doubles in the last 16, losing 11-1, 11-6 in 30 minutes against Australians Zac Alexander and David Palmer.

Evans and Creed, the third seeds, defeated Faiza Zafar and Farhan Zaman (Pakistan) 11-1, 11-5 in 16 minutes, but then lost 11-8, 11-10 in 38 minutes against fifth ranked Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Saurav Ghosal (India).

Pallikal and Ghosal experienced the full range of emotions across two matches in the mixed doubles.

In the morning, the fifth seeds struggled against Malaysians Aifa Azman and Sanjay Singh Chal, recovering from dropping the first game to recover and beat the 11th seeds 7-11, 11-6, 11-8.

During the evening quarter-finals the Indian pair pulled off a notable upset over Evans and Creed (Wales).

Pallikal and Ghosal fought back from behind in the second to clinch a tie-break and beat the third seeds 11-8, 11-10 in 38 minutes.

“When you play two matches a day, it’s really hard to regroup and come back stronger in the second because you’re so used to just playing one match a day,” said Pallikal.

“When you mess up one match in the Commonwealth Games you’re out for four years, rather than when you play PSA you can come back the next year and play it again.

“We’re just glad to have taken that second game as the Welsh pair were coming out really strong and if it had gone to a third it could have gone either way.”

Pallikal and Ghosal will now face top-seeded New Zealanders Joelle King and Paul Coll for a place in the final.

The other mixed semi will be the Anglo/Australian affair predicted by the seedings – featuring second seeds Alison Waters and Daryl Selby (England) against fourth-seeded Aussies Donna Urquhart and Cameron Pilley.Incredibly, both pairs survived tense and emotional domestic derbies – in which each pair’s opponents included their own partner in the other doubles event!

On the showcourt, Urquhart and Pilley despatched Rachael Grinham and Ryan Cuskelly, the sixth seeds, 11-6, 11-9.

But it was on one of the sidecourts that Waters and Selby squandered a one-game lead to let their opponents Jenny Duncalf and Adrian Waller, the seventh seeds, draw level and then lead the decider 10-8.

The re-focussed second seeds saved three match balls to win 11-7, 9-11, 11-10 in exactly one hour.

“We’ve obviously trained a lot together and every time we play in practice it’s really close,” said Selby.

Men’s quarter-final line-up:

[1] Ryan Cuskelly & Cameron Pilley (Australia) v [7] Daryl Selby & Adrian Waller (England)

[4] Declan James & James Willstrop (England) v [11] Vikram Malhotra & Ramit Tandon (india)

[3] Paul Coll & Campbell Grayson (New Zealancer) v [5] Zac Alexander & David Palmer (Australia)

[2] Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban (Scotland) v [10] Mohd Syafiq Kamal & Eain Yow Ng (Malaysia)

Women’s quarter-final line-up:

[9] Rachel Arnold & Sivasangari Subramaniam (Malaysia) v [7] Laura Massaro & Sarah-Jane Perry (England)

[3] Joshna Chinappa & Dipika Pallikal Karthik (India) v [5] Samantha Cornett & Nikki Todd (Canada)

[4] Rachael Grinham & Donna Urquhart (Australia) v [6] Tesni Evans & Deon Saffery (Wales)

[2] Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters (England) v [1] Joelle King & Amanda Landers-Murphy (New Zealand)

Mixed semi-final line-up:

[1] Joelle King & Paul Coll (New Zealand) v [5] Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal (India)

[2] Alison Waters & Daryl Selby (England) v [4] Donna Urquhart & Cameron Pilley (Australia)

RESULTS: Commonwealth Games Squash, Gold Coast, Australia

Men’s Doubles 3rd & Final Pool round:

Pool A

[16] Mandela Patrick & Kale Wilson (TRI) bt Sailesh Pala & Romit Parshottam (FIJ) 11-9, 11-3 (16m)

Pool B

[15] Jason-Ray Khalil & Sunil Seth (GUY) bt Manda Chilambwe & Kelvin Ndhlovu (ZAM) 11-8, 10-11, 11-10 (48m)

Pool C

[14] Bradley Hindle & Daniel Zammit-Lewis (MLT) bt Jason Doyle & Jules Snagg (SVG) 11-6, 11-4 (14m)

Pool D

[13] Tayyab Aslam & Farhan Zaman (PAK) bt Joe Chapman & Neville Sorrentino (IVB) 11-8, 11-4 (16m)

Pool E

[12] Christopher Binnie & Lewis Walters (JAM) bt Alexander Frazer & Jacob Kelly (CAY) 11-3, 11-7 (17m)

Pool F

[11] Vikram Malhotra & Ramit Tandon (IND) bt Ernest Jombla & Yusif Mansaray (SLE) w/o

Pool G

[10] Mohd Syafiq Kamal & Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt Michael Kawooya & Ian Rukunya (UGA) 11-2, 11-2 (11m)

Pool H

[9] Lance Beddoes & Evan Williams (NZL) bt Othneil Bailey & Omari Wilson (SVG) 11-4, 11-7 (12m)

Last 16 round:

[1] Ryan Cuskelly & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [15] Jason-Ray Khalil & Sunil Seth (GUY) 11-9, 11-7 (19m)

[7] Daryl Selby & Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [9] Lance Beddoes & Evan Williams (NZL) 11-1, 11-3 (18m)

[4] Declan James & James Willstrop (ENG) bt [14] Bradley Hindle & Daniel Zammit-Lewis (MLT) 11-5, 11-3 (23m)

[11] Vikram Malhotra & Ramit Tandon (IND) bt [12] Christopher Binnie & Lewis Walters (JAM) 11-4, 11-10 (30m)

[5] Zac Alexander & David Palmer (AUS) bt [6] Peter Creed & Joel Makin (WAL) 11-1, 11-6 (30m)

[3] Paul Coll & Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt [13] Tayyab Aslam & Farhan Zaman (PAK) 11-6, 11-6 (28m)

[10] Mohd Syafiq Kamal & Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt [8] Nafiizwan Adnan & Ivan Yuen (MAS) 4-11, 11-9, 11-10 (76m)

[2] Alan Clyne & Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [16] Mandela Patrick & Kale Wilson (TRI) 11-2, 11-5 (13m)

Mixed Doubles Last 16 round:

[1] Joelle King & Paul Coll (NZL) bt [15] Meagan Best & Shawn Simpson (BAR) 11-2, 11-7 (14m)

[8] Joshna Chinappa & Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) bt [10] Amanda Landers-Murphy & Zac Millar (NZL) 11-7, 10-11, 11-5 (34m)

[3] Tesni Evans & Peter Creed (WAL) bt [13] Faiza Zafar & Farhan Zaman (PAK) 11-1, 11-5 (16m)

[5] Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [11] Aifa Azman & Sanjay Singh Chal (MAS) 7-11, 11-6, 11-8 (37m)

[6] Rachael Grinham & Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [12] Madina Zafar & Tayyab Aslam (PAK) 11-3, 11-1 (12m)

[4] Donna Urquhart & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [14] Marlene West & Cameron Stafford (CAY) 11-7, 11-5 (17m)

[7] Jenny Duncalf & Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [9] Lisa Aitken & Kevin Moran (SCO) 11-7, 11-6 (26m)

[2] Alison Waters & Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [16] Dianne Kellas & Bradley Hindle (MLT) 11-3, 11-6 (27m)

Quarter-finals:

[1] Joelle King & Paul Coll (NZL) bt [8] Joshna Chinappa & Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) 11-10, 11-10 (34m)

[5] Dipika Pallikal Karthik & Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [3] Tesni Evans & Peter Creed (WAL) 11-8, 11-10 (38m)

[4] Donna Urquhart & Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [6] Rachael Grinham & Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 11-6, 11-9 (33m)

[2] Alison Waters & Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [7] Jenny Duncalf & Adrian Waller (ENG) 11-7, 9-11, 11-10 (60m)