Good start: Ong Beng Hee beat Australian Ryan Cuskelly 6-11, 14-12, 11-7, 12-10 in the first round of the Motor City Open in Detroit on Saturday.

PETALING JAYA: World No. 7 Low Wee Wern’s excellent campaign just got better as she dished out a solid performance to qualify for the semi-finals of the US$35,000 Greenwich Open squash championship in Connecticut, the United States, on Saturday.

The national No. 2 had previously never done well in the US but after an extended break due to a hamstring injury, the Penangite has been firing on all cylinders.

A day after sweeping aside Irish qualifier Aisling Blake in the first round, Wee Wern again turned it up to beat Madeline Perry, another Irishwoman, 11-5, 5-11, 11-6, 11-8 in 65 minutes.

It was a strong performance from the Malaysian third seed and it brought her head-to-head tally with Perry to 2-2, having also beaten the 36-year-old in the Malaysian Open last year.

“I definitely played well today and I had a good start. Madeline, however, came back a lot stronger in the second set,” said Wee Wern.

“In the third it was close up to 4-4 before I managed to steal ahead to 9-4 and that helped me to a 2-1 lead.

“I lost a few points in the fourth, but I was very consistent and eventually managed to go ahead at 10-6 before winning the tie.

“This is definitely a very good performance and I’m really happy with my fine start to the year,” added Wee Wern.

There was more joy for Wee Wern as top seed Raneem El Weleily was removed from the championship. The Egyptian, who was tipped to meet Wee Wern in the last four, surprisingly went down to eighth seed Camille Serme of France.

“Camille really played well to beat Raneem. I got injured playing her in Hong Kong last month. It’ll be a close match but my major concern is not to get injured again,” said Wee Wern.

Meanwhile, men’s national No. 1 Ong Beng Hee got off to a good start in his defence of his Motor City title in Detroit.

The 33-year-old beat Aussie qualifier Ryan Cuskelly 6-11, 14-12, 11-7, 12-10. He will face top seed Mohamed El Shorbagy of Egypt in the quarter-finals.

Motor City Open

First round: Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt Abdullah Al Mezayen (Kuw) 11-9, 11-6, 11-5; Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) 6-11, 14-12, 11-7, 12-10; Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col) bt Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 12-14, 11-0, 11-6, 14-12; Amr Shabana (Egy) bt Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7; Omar Mosaad (Egy) bt Marwan El Shorbagy (Egy) 15-13, 11-3, 11-7; Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Alan Clyne (Sco) 6-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-3; Stephen Coppinger (Rsa) bt Hisham Ashour (Egy) 11-3, 11-7, 11- 2; Karim Darwish (Egy) bt Olli Tuominen (Fin) 11-3, 11-3, 11-7.

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