ONG Beng Hee advanced to the last-16 of the World Open for the third time in his career but it was the end of the road for Azlan Iskandar at the Green Island Resort in Kuwait yesterday.
The 13th seeded Beng Hee eliminated Tom Richards of England 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9 in 53 minutes to give himself a chance of becoming the first Malaysian to reach the quarter-finals of the world championship.
He needs to overcome French second seed Fregory Gaultier, his likely third round opponent today to achieve that feat.
Beng Hee ground out a 14-12, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8 win over Egypt's Ali Anwar Reda in the first round.
Azlan, the 12th seed, battled for over two hours against English 22nd seed Daryl Selby but his effort was in vain as he went down 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8.
The two hours and 15 minutes the duo spent on court was the longest slugfest in the tournament so far as Azlan dropped to 0-2 against Selby on the PSA Tour.
Joining Azlan on the sidelines was Australian sixth seed David Palmer who was upset by 25th seed Tarek Momen of Egypt 14-12, 12-10, 11-7 and 10th seed Adrian Grant of England who was edged 13-11, 12-10, 11-9 by Egyptian 21st seed Hisham Ashour.