In the men’s draw, top seed Mohamed ElShorbagy dropped the first game before coming back to beat France’s Baptiste Masotti 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4.

ElShorbagy described the contest as a "huge battle" and was relieved to finally get through, with the players made to wait for 45 minutes to get started as play was temporarily suspended due to high humidity levels.

The contest of the day saw world junior champion Mostafa Asal beat compatriot Mohamed Abouelghar in an all Egyptian match-up that lasted 103 minutes.

Asal praised his "mental toughness" after the victory in draining conditions, as he won three very close games during his 12-10, 4-11, 14-12, 1-11, 12-10 triumph.

The two seeded players progressed in the other two men’s matches of the day with sixth seed Fares Dessouky of Egypt beating England’s Patrick Rooney 4-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 while seventh seed Joel Makin of Wales ran out a comfortable victor against Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt 12-10, 11-7, 11-2.

In the women’s draw, top seed Nour El Sherbini of Egypt secured a walkover win as her opponent and compatriot Yathreb Adel withdrew injured before the match.

An injury also affected the all English affair between fifth seed Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters, with Waters retiring hurt after Perry had won the first two games 11-6, 11-4.

Elsewhere in the women’s draw sixth seed Hania El Hammamy defeated fellow Egyptian Nada Abbas 11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6, and third seed Camille Serme of France defeated Canada’s Hollie Naughton 11-5, 11-7, 11-2.

The quarter-finals are scheduled to get underway tomorrow, with matches due to take place in the bottom half of the men’s and women’s draws, before players in the top half play their last eight games on Wednesday (May 26).