Egypt's Raneem El Welily began strongly in her defence of the El Gouna International Squash Open title ©ElGouna Squash

Top seed Raneem El Welily made a good start to her title defence in front of her home crowd at the El Gouna International Squash Open. 

The Egyptian eased past Malaysia's Nicol David in the second round of the Professional Squash Association Platinum event. 

She recorded a 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 victory in just 25 minutes, delighting the partisan crowd at CI Capital Glass Court Arena. 

Her next opponent will be Tinne Gilis, the Belgian having defeated India's Joshna Chinappa 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 10-12, 11-4.

Home favourite and top seed in the men's competition, Ali Farag, also progressed to the next stage.

He faced Australia's Cameron Pilley, taking nearly an hour to win 14-12, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6.

Today's action took place at the CI Capital Glass Court Arena in El Gouna ©ElGounaSquash
Today's action took place at the CI Capital Glass Court Arena in El Gouna ©ElGounaSquash

"I felt a bit flat today," Farag said.

"And the last person you want to play against when you are feeling flat is Cameron, because he can really cut you off and he did that really well in the first three.

"Plus the conditions were pretty tough as well, the wind was pretty strong tonight."

The Egyptian will meet Peru's Diego Elias, who overcame Mazen Hesham's home advantage to win 11-6, 11-4, 6-11, 11-6.

The remainder of the second-round fixtures will take place tomorrow, with the third round beginning on Sunday (April 21).