Malaysia's seven-time world squash champion Nicol David's bid to regain her crown progressed on Tuesday as she became the first player to reach the quarter-finals in Cairo.
The record-breaking David, 31, was forced to battle surprisingly hard in both the first two games of her match against English qualifier Emily Whitlock at the Women's World Championship.
David was 7-9 down in the first and trailed 8-9 in the second before prevailing 12-10 11-9 11-1 against the 20-year-old.
Whitlock often moved David around the court well during plenty of long rallies in a 45-minute encounter, and by giving the top seed such a good work out may have done her a favour.
"It was a really good match and actually I enjoyed it," David said.
"In these (cool) conditions the girls are going to take advantage if you leave anything loose and I was really pleased to get the first two games."
David next plays Camille Serme, the world No.6 from France, who reached the world quarter-finals for the second time in nine months by beating Emma Beddoes, the fourth player in England's world title winning team, by 11-5 11-13 11-4 11-4.
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