Laura Massaro blown out in Windy City Open event

Laura Massaro on her way to a second-round defeat

Former world No.1 Massaro failed to reach the quarter-finals in Chicago after New Zealand’s world No.9 Joelle King mounted a huge comeback to knock out the Englishwoman.

Massaro took a 1-0 lead, before King fought back with the match eventually going to a deciding fifth game, which King claimed to win 6-11 11-9 11-6 8-11 11-6.

“Playing Laura is never easy,” said 29-year-old King.

“On the head-to-head I’ve only beaten her once and that was last year.

“So, it’s always a tough mental battle.

“In the first I was getting completely outplayed and I had to dig deep to come back so I’m really proud of that win.”

England’s World No.10 Alison Waters secured a quarter-final berth.

But like Massaro, Emily Whitlock was also knocked out in round two.

London-born Waters prevailed in a testing five-game encounter with 17-year-old Egyptian Hania El Hammamy – who had the biggest result of her career in the previous round, knocking out eight-time world champion Nicol David.

Waters went 2-1 down before mounting a comeback and securing a place in the quarter-finals by a 12-10 8-11 5-11 11-7 11-7 scoreline.

She will now face defending champion and world No.2 Raneem El Welily, who defeated England’s Whitlock in straight-games.

“It was tough,” said Waters.

“She’s only 17 – she’s an amazing player and she’s got a great future ahead of her. That was one of the oldies, I’ve got to keep these young ones behind me.

“I thought we both played really well and we have quite similar styles so I think we both complemented each other quite well and both like hitting hard and attacking.

“I felt really good out there and I’m moving well, so happy to be in the quarter-finals.”

Results: Women’s Round Two – (9) Joelle King (NZL) bt (4) Laura Massaro (ENG) 3-2: 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6 (70m), (10) Alison Waters (ENG) bt Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-2: 12-10, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7 (62m), (2) Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt (16) Emily Whitlock (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 (20m). Quarter-final draw: Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v Camille Serme (FRA), Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v Nour El Tayeb (EGY), Joelle King (NZL) v Amanda Sobhy (USA), Alison Waters (ENG) v Raneem El Welily.