IT was a day of upsets as local challengers Aifa Azman and Rachel Arnold toppled seeded opponents to reach the Malaysian Open quarter-finals.
Teenager Aifa showed she has the mental strength to go far after digging deep to come from behind and beat third seed Yathreb Adel of Egypt 11-3, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7 at the National Squash Centre yesterday.
The national No 4 took 47 minutes to subdue world No 31 Yathreb, and will meet Egypt's Hana Ramadan in the last eight.
"I was cruising in the first game but she changed her game plan and suddenly I found myself 2-1 down," said Aifa.
"I knew I had to change my game because she was taking everything in the middle.
"I needed to keep the ball at the front and back of the court, and I did just that in the fourth and fifth games.
"I'm very happy with my performance as I've already beaten two higher ranked players and got into the quarter-finals."
National No 2 Rachel was also in inspired form, beating seventh seed and world No 23 Donna Lobban of Australia 11-9, 12-10, 11-4.
Rachel will face top seed and world No 8 Salma Hany of Egypt in the last eight.
In men's event, national No 1 Ng Eain Yow overcame national No 2 Ivan Yuen 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-1 to check into the quarter-finals against Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller.
RESULTS — SECOND ROUND
Men: Nicolas Mueller (Sui) bt Tayyab Aslam (Pak) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7; Ng Eain Yow (Mas) bt Ivan Yuen (Mas) 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-1; Yip Tsz Fung (Hkg) bt Youssef Soliman (Egy) 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-9; Victor Crouin (Fra) bt Ramit Tandon (Ind) 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5; Lucas Serme (Fra) bt Bernat Jaume (Spa) 11-6, 11-3, 11-1; Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Mazen Gamal (Egy) 11-4, 11-4, 11-7.
Women: Salma Hany (Egy) bt Lee Ka Yi (Hkg) 14-12, 11-9, 12-10; Rachel Arnold (Mas) bt Donna Lobban (Aus) 11-9, 12-10, 11-4; Ho Tze Lok (Hkg) bt Farida Mohamed (Egy) bt 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9; Hollie Naughton (Can) bt Menna Hamed (Egy) 11-5, 12-10, 11-8; Aifa Azman bt Yathreb Adel (Egy) 11-3, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7; Hana Ramadan (Egy) bt Emily Whitlock (Wal) 11-7, 11-0, 11-7; Danielle Letourneau (Can) bt Anna Serme (Cze) 11-7, 11-3, 11-8; Nadine Shahin (Egy) bt Nada Abbas (Egy) 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4.
