KUALA LUMPUR: Women's national No 2 Aifa Azman put her recent shaky form behind her as she got off to a flying start at the World Squash Championships in Chicago.
The 21-year-old's last outing was a disappointing second exit at the Irish Open, where she lost to a lower-ranked Zeina Zein of Egypt.
But the world No 28 made good progress in a bid to restore her confidence as she looked at ease in dispatching American wildcard Caroline Fouts 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 in just 26 minutes in the first round on Thursday.
The win earns her a meeting with 15th seed Tesni Evans of Wales, who downed England's Katie Maliff 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 in the second round.
"It was a good win for me because I wasn't playing very well recently, especially at the Irish Open," said Aifa.
"There was pressure on me to deliver, especially since I was up against a younger opponent, but I am glad to have gotten through, which will give me some confidence to take on Tesni.
"I think there will be less pressure playing Tesni, but I need to make sure that I have a good game plan and relax a little more."
There were also good results for national No 3 S. Sivasangari and men's national No 1 Ng Eain Yow as the pair also progressed into the second round.
World No 34 Sivasangari was made to work before she advanced with an 11-4, 11-4, 13-15, 11-3 win over American Marina Stefanoni.
The Kedah-born meets eighth seed and former junior rival Rowan Elaraby of Egypt in the second round.
Eain Yow, on the other hand, was too strong for India's Abhay Singh as he secured a convincing 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 win.
The world No 20 meets sparring partner and third seed Mohamed Elshorbagy of England in the second round.
Meanwhile, Aira Azman and Yasshmita Jadishkumar both ended their world meet debuts with defeats in the first round.
The pair can, however, stand tall after pushing their more experienced opponents to the limits before losing in five games respectively.
The 18-year-old Aira, who had now climbed to a career-high No 52 in the world, held a 2-1 lead before going down 9-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4, 11-2 to Frenchwoman Melissa Alves.
Yasshmita also went down to a French opponent, falling 11-13, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 to Marie Stephan.
