Spectators at the IQUW Bermuda Squash Open on Thursday were treated to some epic quarter-finals with play going on late into the night.

An interesting semi-final will take place in the women’s draw on Friday night after Malaysian siblings Aira Zaman and Aifa Zaman both made progress.

It was far from easy for top seed Aira, who needed five games to beat Nour Heikal, while sister Aifa made light work of Australian Alex Haydon, winning the shortest match of the day in just 21 minutes.

Egyptian Hana Moataz will take on compatriot Amina El Rehany in the second semi-final.

Men’s No 3 seed Tomothy Brownell was the highest-profile casualty on the day after coming out on the wrong end of a five-game thriller with Karim El Hammamy, of Egypt, who won 11-6 in the final game.

Top seed Miguel Angel Rodriguez defeated England’s Simon Herbert to make it into the semi-finals, with second seed Mohamad Zakaria winning an all-Egyptian quarter-final against Mohammad El Sirty. He will play Veer Chotani, from India, in the other semi-final.