Fourth seed Rafael Alarcon successfully led home hopes through to the quarter-finals of the BH Open after beating Englishman Reuben Phillips in the opening round of the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 event at Academia Winner Squash in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
But the experienced Brazilian number one (pictured), ranked 71 in the world, needed four games to overcome 20-year-Phillips, playing for the first time in Brazil, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8 in 48 minutes to set up his quarter-final clash with Frenchman Geoffrey Demont.
The unseeded 21-year-old from Aix-en-Provence took over an hour to see off Martin Mosnik of Slovenia 11-5, 11-9, 1-11, 7-11, 11-1.
The top two seeds survived contrasting straight games wins to earn their anticipated places in the last eight.
US favourite Julian Illingworth defeated Manoel Pereira – but took 61 minutes to get the better of the Brazilian ranked more than 140 places lower 13-11, 11-7, 11-7.
In much less than half the time, second-seeded Englishman Adrian Waller despatched local qualifier Josimar Silva 11-4, 11-3, 11-3.
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Julian Illingworth (USA) v Vinicius Rodrigues (BRA)
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) v [Q] Joe Chapman (IVB)
[4] Rafael Alarcon (BRA) v Geoffrey Demont (FRA)
[2] Adrian Waller (ENG) v Adam Murrills (ENG)
1st round:
[1] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt Manoel Pereira (BRA) 13-11, 11-7, 11-7 (61m)
Vinicius Rodrigues (BRA) bt [Q] Jonathan Geekie (SCO) 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 (32m)
[Q] Joe Chapman (IVB) bt Juan Pablo Roude (ARG) 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8 (44m)
[3] Charles Sharpes (ENG) bt [Q] Hugo Varela (ESP) 6-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-5 (39m)
[4] Rafael Alarcon (BRA) bt Reuben Phillips (ENG) 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8 (48m)
Geoffrey Demont (FRA) bt Martin Mosnik (SLO) 11-5, 11-9, 1-11, 7-11, 11-1 (68m)
Adam Murrills (ENG) bt Ronivaldo Duarte (BRA) 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 (70m)
[2] Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [Q] Josimar Silva (BRA) 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 (26m)
Qualifying finals:
Hugo Varela (ESP) bt Juan Pablo Roude (ARG) 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3
Jonathan Geekie (SCO) bt Rodrigo Dias Duarte (BRA) 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 12-10
Joe Chapman (IVB) bt Andre Teixeira (BRA) 11-4, 11-5, 11-7
Josimar Silva (BRA) bt Ibrahim Nyanzi (UGA) 11-8, 11-7, 13-11
1st qualifying round:
Rodrigo Dias Duarte (BRA) bt Nosherwan Khan (PAK) w/o
Andre Teixeira (BRA) bt Marcelo Braga (BRA) 11-6, 11-2, 11-4
Ibrahim Nyanzi (UGA) bt Wagner Braga (BRA) 12-10, 11-3, 16-14
