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Sarah-Jane Perry became the fourth English player to reach the Allam British Open quarter-finals after defeating Tesni Evans in the second round.
Perry joins Laura Massaro and Emily Whitlock in the last eight of the competition in Hull, with Nick Matthew the only England representative left in the men’s draw.
National Squash Championships finalist Perry [7] faced Evans (Wales) in the first match of the third day of action. The crowd was treated to some spectacular long rallies as both players attempted to dominate the game. Perry soon showed why she had played her way up to a career high World No.8, winning in three games, 11/5, 11/8, 11/8 in 43 minutes.
“I’m really pleased to get through to the quarter final again in the British Open,” said the 26-year-old. “It’s fantastic that we’ve got three English women through to the quarter finals. I don’t remember that happening and it shows that we’re really pushing on and challenging the Egyptian reign.”
Perry’s last big tournament win came at the Nationals in 2015, the same year she reached an Allam British Open quarter-final.
With World No.4 Noran Gohar losing to qualifier Nada Abbas in the first round, Perry has a huge chance to reach her first semi-final. She will face either 16-year-old Abbas or Donna Urquhart [15] for a place in the final four.
Perry said: “I’ve seen a couple of players just go for it and there’s no pressure on the lower seeds, they just throw everything at it and they’ve got nothing to lose. That’s quite dangerous as a seeded player to have to play against but I just hope to focus on what I’m doing.”
The quarter finals will be played at Hull’s Airco Arena on Friday.
For all the latest news from the 2017 Allam British Open, visit the official website. For results and reaction, follow @BritOpenSquash.
