KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Ng Eain Yow came back from the brink of defeat to stun Egypt's world No. 6 Karim Abdel Gawad in a five-set thriller to reach the British Open quarter-finals for the first time ever in Birmingham today.
World No. 15 Eain Yow lost the first two sets 6-11, 3-11, but rallied to take the next three 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 in 74 minutes.
It was the Asian champion's second win over former world champion Karim in six meetings.
Eain Yow also defeated Karim in five sets in the second round of the British Open in 2021.
Eain Yow will meet either world No. 2 Paul Coll of New Zealand or world No. 18 Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia for a place in the semi-finals.
In the second round, Eain Yow, 26, upstaged Egypt's world No. 13 Aly Abou Eleinen.
Eain Yow said: "It feels amazing. I think it has been three years since I reached the quarter-finals of a Platinum event.
"So it has been a while coming. I have had some missed opportunities over the years, so today was really all about enjoying the crowd and the theatre. We've such a good turnout every day and I think that helped a lot at 2-0 down.
"My dad, my coach and my team are all here, so it's amazing."
"To be honest, I feel that neither of us played our best squash today. At 2-0 down, I was just kicking myself and saying that I couldn't go down like this.
"There have been matches this season where I let the match go when at 2-0 down. I told myself that it's probably my last match of the season and to keep fighting and fighting all the way to the end."