Tesni Evans reached the quarter-finals of the PSA World Tour Manchester Open after triumphing in another hour long battle.
The Rhyl-based player, seeded seven for the event, beat England’s No 9 seed Alison Waters after 61 minutes.
Evans was taken to 60 minutes before winning her first round match on Thursday 3-2 against Egypt’s Zeina Mickawy in her first match for eight months.
Tez keeps her fans on tenterhooks before coming through 3-2 v Alison Waters #greatresult
— Wrexham Brymbo Squash (@wxmbrymbosquash) September 19, 2020
And Evans is the second Welsh player into the last eight joining Joel Makin who faces world No 1 and top seed Mohamed ElShorbagy on Sunday.
Evans had been sidelined by an ankle injury suffered playing in New York in January before the professional squash circuit was suspended by COVID-19.
The Cardiff-born player had only had 17 minutes of court action before the Manchester Open started – but is showing plenty of staying power.
Evans twice led against her English rival after taking the first and third games 11-5, 11-7 with Waters hitting back each time (5-11, 3-11)
But Evans kept her cool in a tough deciding game to run out a 13-11 winner.
“I think I got away with one there,” said Evans. “I think I’m a bit lucky I snuck that one in the end.
“I think she outplayed me most of the match, especially the two games she won.
“It was just a matter of being too passive or too aggressive and I couldn’t find the middle ground.
“I just had to keep fighting and be brave at the end as I didn’t want to come off and regret not going for it.”