Egypt’s World No.3 Hania El Hammamy avoided a shock defeat against 15-year-old rising star Amina Orfi as she won a nail-biting five-game thriller at Chicago’s Union Station to reach the quarter-finals of the PSA World Championships.

World No.61 Orfi was the youngest player in history to appear in the third round of the sport’s most prestigious tournament and came close to causing one of the event’s biggest ever upsets.

Orfi fought back from two games down against a stunned El Hammamy, with the No.3 seed eventually squeezing out the win by an 11-9 scoreline in a pulsating fifth game.

El Hammamy will now aim to avenge her British Open defeat to United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy when she takes on the World No.5 in the next round.

“I’m not happy with the way I played after being 2-0 up,” said El Hammamy.

“I’ve been a youngster myself, so I knew the excitement and courage that Amina would play with. She’s the World Junior Champion, she’s still only 15 and look how well she is playing now. I’m sure we’ll have some real battles in the future.

“I’m not thinking about it [the World Championship title], I’m just trying to bring my ‘A’ game in the upcoming rounds.”

Men’s top seed Mostafa Asal got his revenge over World No.10 Joel Makin to secure his last eight spot. 

Makin beat Asal in a brutal 96-minute battle during the semi-finals of March’s Canary Wharf Classic, but this time around it was the Egyptian who emerged victorious, winning 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5 in 85 minutes. He will play compatriot Mazen Hesham next.

Slam Dunk from Joel Makin ?#PSAWorldChamps pic.twitter.com/4tyoEpoSfy

— PSA World Championships (@PSAWorldChamps) May 6, 2023

The Egyptian fought back into the opening game after Makin squandered five game balls. Asal drew first blood after winning 12-10 in the tiebreak.

The former World No.1 upped the pace, looking good value for his lead which he doubled with an 11-6 victory. But Makin charged back when he needed it most, taking a 5-1 lead which Asal clawed back to 7-7. However the Welshman took the third 11-9 to halve the deficit.

Makin requested a new ball at the end of the third, but it worked in Asal’s favour. As the Egyptian diffused the Golden Tiger’s fightback to seal his last eight spot.

Afterwards, Asal said: “My performance today was so good.

“I didn’t mean to hit Joel at all. This was a stroke but I asked the referee for a let ball. I didn’t see him, I was trying to play a boast to finish the shot.

“It was intense and I wanted to play the ball because maybe the referee will give me a no let. I apologised to him and I think we played good squash today. We were saying sorry to each other and it was nice squash today.

“In football, Argentina lost the first match against Saudi Arabia [at the World Cup]. I couldn’t lose the first match but it was tough. You see Karim Gawad in 2016, it looked like he would be out of the tournament in round two or three and then he won the tournament.”

No.9 seed Hesham progressed to the quarter-finals after defeating his fellow countryman Aly Abou Eleinen in four games.

USA’s No.1 Sobhy cruised into the quarter-finals following a dominant display over Salma Hany, while World No.5 Paul Coll booked his spot in the quarter-finals after defeating the entertaining Colombian Miguel Rodriguez by an 3-0 scoreline.

Reigning men’s World Champion Ali Farag was tested by World No.35 Nathan Lake as he recovered from a slow start to record an 11-9, 11-1, 9-11, 11-3 victory.

World No.1 Nouran Gohar came out all guns blazing to dispatch Belgium’s Tinne Gilis in straight games as she booked her place in the PSA World Championship quarter-finals in the opening match of the day.

Results – Men’s Third Round (Top Half): 2022-23 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [11] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-1: 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5 (85m)

[9] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 (63m)

[5] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [13] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 13-11 (59m)

[4] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Nathan Lake (ENG) 3-1: 11-9, 11-1, 9-11, 11-3 (34m)

Draw – Men’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played May 7th

[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) v Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)

Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v [7] Tarek Momen (EGY)

[6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)

[16] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [2] Diego Elias (PER)

Draw – Men’s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): To Be Played May 8th

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v [9] Mazen Hesham (EGY)

[5] Paul Coll (NZL) v [4] Ali Farag (EGY)

Results – Women’s Third Round (Top Half): 2022-23 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family

[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [12] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 (31m)

[6] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [16] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-6 (31m)

[5] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [14] Salma Hany (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 (27m)

[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt Amina Orfi (EGY) 3-2: 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 7-11, 11-9 (71m)

Draw – Women’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played May 7th

[4] Joelle King (NZL) v [15] Tesni Evans (WAL)

[11] Nele Gilis (BEL) v [7] Olivia Fiechter (USA)

[8] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v [10] Georgina Kennedy (ENG)

[9] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)

Draw – Men’s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): To Be Played May 8th

[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [6] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)

[5] Amanda Sobhy (USA) v [3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY)