Welsh ace Tesni Evans has earned the biggest win of her squash career by ending former World champion Laura Massaro’s quest for success in Manchester.
England number one Massaro crashed out of the 2017 Women’s AJ Bell PSA World Championships on day three of the tournament.
Cardiff-born Evans is the first Welsh player to qualify for the quarter-finals since former men’s World number five and current PSA chief executive Alex Gough in 2007.
“I kept on wondering throughout the match if today would be my day – and it was,” Evans said.
“My heart is racing fast. I felt like I had quite a lot of control in the first two games and then towards the end of the third game I was edgy to the max.
“I was just hoping she would give me a tin and that’s probably not the best way to play Laura because she didn’t give me anything. I was really working hard to get the point at the end but she kept coming back and back at me and I’m just delighted to get the win.”
Evans, the 16th seed, was aggressive and tenacious in a hard fought match which lasted 77 minutes, emerging the winner in four games. After winning the first two games, Evans was edged out in the third, but finished strongly to win 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11.
The pair had met in the quarter-finals of last month’s Hong Kong Open, with Massaro, the 2013 World Champion, winning in four games.
But, inside Manchester’s National Squash Centre, it was Evans who had the edge and Massaro failed to reach the quarter-finals of this tournament for the first time in seven years.
Evans will face Egypt’s US Open champion Nour El Tayeb in the last eight.
They are joined in the quarter-finals by defending champion Nour El Sherbini and World number five Nouran Gohar, who beat Japan’s Satomi Watanabe and England’s Alison Waters, respectively, to set up a third consecutive World Championships meeting between each other.
2017 Men’s AJ Bell PSA World Championships
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Declan James (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 (39m)
[8] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [13] Daryl Selby 3-1: 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 (82m)
[5] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 (126m)
[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [10] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 3-0: 14-12, 11-7, 11-4 (51m)
Draw – men’s third round (bottom half)
[4] Ali Farag (EGY) v Cameron Pilley (AUS)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [7] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Lucas Serme (FRA)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [2] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Draw – men’s quarter-finals (top half): To Be Played December 14
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [8] Paul Coll (NZL)
[5] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
2017 Women’s AJ Bell PSA World Championships
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [Q] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (23m)
[5] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [10] Alison Waters (ENG) 3-1: 12-10, 8-11, 11-2, 11-8 (50m)
[8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt Salma Hany (EGY) 3-1: 6-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5 (52m)
[16] Tesni Evans (WAL) bt [4] Laura Massaro (ENG) 3-1: 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11 (77m)
Draw – Women’s second round (bottom half):
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [13] Olivia Blatchford (USA)
[9] Joelle King (NZL) v [7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[6] Nicol David (MAS) v [11] Annie Au (HKG)
[15] Victoria Lust (ENG) v [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Draw – women’s quarter-finals (top half): To Be Played December 14
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [5] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
[8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [16] Tesni Evans (WAL)