Rachel Arnold (Photo PSA)
Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold stunned No.5 seed Amanda Sobhy in the opening match of the day at the Silocon Valley squash championships, coming though in a thrilling five-set clash.
Rachel took 52-minutes to dismantle her American rival Amanda 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 11-13, 11-8. It was her first win over Amanda in four meetings.
Rachel will now take on teammate Sivasangari Subramaniam in the quarter-finals. Sivasangari, the newly crowned Asian Games champion found the going tough in her match against fellow Malaysian Aifa Azman.
The out of sorts Sivasangari was on the verge of an early exit before picking up a 6-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7 win over Aifa to move into the quarter-finals.
There was, however, a major upset in the men’s competition with Pakistani World No.34 Noor Zaman taking out defending champion Karim Gawad in a 52-minute upset. Zaman prevailed over the Egyptian 6-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7.
