British Open: Egyptians dominate qualifiers

May 19, 2013 - 8:17pm
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Jon Kemp in action

Jon Kemp in action

Allam British Open 2013 - Sun 19th May, Day TWO:

Men’s Qualifying Finals:

Andrew Wagih (Egy) 3-2 Alan Clyne (Sco) 7/11, 8/11, 11/8, 11/5, 12/10 (86m)
Henrik Mustonen (Fin) 3-1 Grégoire Marche (Fra) 11/3, 11/8, 7/11, 11/9 (55m)
Ali Anwar Reda (Egy) 3-1 Max Lee (Hkg) 13/11,, 9/11, 11/9, 11/9 (69m)
Chris Simpson (Eng) 3-0 Mazen Hesham (Egy) 11/6, 11/8, 11/3 (32m)
Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) 3-2 Shawn Delierre (Can) 8/11, 11/4, 10/12, 11/7, 11/8 (96m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) 3-1 Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) 11/7, 11/3, 6/11, 11/6 (45m)
Marwan El Shorbagy (Egy)3-0 Omar Abdel Meguid (Egy) 11/7, 11/9, 11/5 (37m)
Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 3-1 Joe Lee (Eng) 8/11, 11/7, 11/5, 11/4 (56m)

Egyptians dominate qualifying finals at Pontefract

From STEVE CUBBINS

Egyptian players claimed half of the available places in the main draw of the Allam British Open as men’s qualifying concluded at Pontefract Squash and Leisure Club, while three English players were also added to the first round draw which takes place at the KC Stadium in Hull on Monday and Tuesday.

First through was Andrew Wagih, who recovered from two games down to beat Scotland’s Alan Clyne, the qualifying second seed, 12/10 in the decider after 86 minutes of intense play.

“When I was down 2/0, I guess I still I had that hunger.,” said Wagih. “I knew it was going to be so hard to try and beat one of the fittest player on the circuit, but I just kept fighting and now the tournament is not finished, let’s see what it brings….”

Ali Anwar Reda joined his compatriot in the main draw, coming through an equally tough match against Hong Kong’s Max Lee, ‘only’ four games but all fiercely contested.

World Junior Champion Marwan El Shorbagy qualified for the second year in a row as he beat compatriot Omar Abdel Meguid in three tempestuous games, and Karim Abdel Gawadmade it four for Egypt as he came from a game down to deny Englishman Joe Lee.

“I’m happy with the way I played today,” said Marwan, “and it’s nice finally get through again,especially without having too heavy matches.”

Lee was later reprieved as he drew the “Lucky Loser” spot created by the withdrawal of Amr Shabana, and his reward for that was a rematch with Gawad on Tuesday!

Wagih and Shorbagy meet compatriots Karim Darwish and Tarek Momen respectively, while Reda is set to meet England’s Peter Barker, all on Monday.

Chris Simpson and Jonathan Kemp continued to impress as they boosted the English contingent with fairly quick wins over Mazen Hesham and Nafiizwan Adnan. Simpson now faces Swiss Nicolas Mueller while Kemp will test his shotmaking against speedy Indian Saurav Ghosal, both on Monday.

“I controlled the match, but not easily,” said Simpson. “Mazen is 19 years old, and probably the best or at least one of the very best juniors, so I had to play a ‘senior’ game -I tried to frustrate him by playing a typical patient English game and it worked.”

Henrik Mustonen powers through

Henrik Mustonen powers through

Henrik Mustonen played superbly to despatch France’s Grégoire March in four games, the bad news for the young Finn being that he now meets defending champion and world number two Nick Matthew tomorrow.

“I hardly made any error in the first two games,” said Mustonen. “In the third I made a few too many, but Olli [Tuominen] was encouraging me in believing that I was playing the right tactic.”

The day started with a marathon and ended with one too as Ryan Cuskelly finally overcame Canada’s Shawn Delierre in a five-game 96-minute bruising encounter. Cuskelly doesn’t get much rest either, the Aussie’s next opponent on Monday afternoon is fellow left-hander Laurens Jan Anjema.

Women’s Qualifying Round One:

Joshana Chinappa (Ind) 3-2 Gaby Huber (Sui) 11/8, 11/4, 6/11, 11/1 (50m)
Deon Saffery (Wal) 3-0 Siyoli Waters (Rsa) 11/8, 11/8, 14/12 (38m)
Emma Beddoes (Eng) 3-1 Amina Helal (Eng) 11/3, 11/3, 8/11, 11/5 (37m)
Nada Elkalaawy (Eng) 3-1 Tesni Evans (Wal) 7/11, 11/5,12/10, 11/6 (45m)
Lauren Briggs (Eng) 3-0 Thaisa Serafini (Bra) 11/8, 11/7, 11/6 (37m)
Melody Francis (Aus) 3-0 Keely Taylor (Eng) 11/1, 11/1, 11/4 (14m)
Sam Cornett (Can) 3-0 Sarah Cardwell (Aus) 13/11, 11/6, 11/9 (36m)
Olga Ertlova (Cze) 3-2 Olivia Blatchford (Usa) 5/11, 16/18, 11/6, 11/2, 11/9 (64m)
Lucie Fialova (Cze) 3-0 Cyrielle Peltier (Fra) 11/3, 11/9, 11/8 (31m)
Nicolette Fernandes (Guy) 3-0 Victoria Temple-Murray (Eng) 11/4, 11/7, 11/1 (22m)
Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn) 3-0 Mari Taylor (Eng) 11/2, 11/0, 11/7 (20m)
Latasha Khan (Usa) 3-0 Maud Duplomb (Fra) 11/8, 11/6, 13/11 (32m)
Delia Arnold (Mas) 3-0 Laura Pomportes (Fra) 11/2, 11/1, 11/1 (19m)
Birgit Coufal (Aut) 3-2 Kylie Lindsay (Nzl) 7/11, 10/12, 11/7, 11/4, 11/8 (43m)
Lisa Aitken (Sco) 3-0 Anna Kimberley (Eng) 12/10, 11/4, 11/7 (34m)
Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 3-0 Claire Walker (Eng) 11/3, 11/3, 11/5 (16m)

Saffery delights Ponte faithful

A busy day at Pontefract saw sixteen women’s first round qualification matches, but the home crowd enjoyed the very first of them most of all as home favourite Deon Safferyupset South Africa’s Siyoli Waters in straight games.

“The home crowd helped today,” admitted Deon, “but I would have taken a lot of stick had I lost!”.

There was a trio of five-game matches as Joshana Chinappa saw off the comeback of Gaby Huber, while Olga Ertlova and Birt Coufal both successfully came from two games down to book places in the qualifying finals.

“I’m sure there are other ways of winning than to start going down 2/0 and win 11/9 in the 5th,” said Czech Olga, “at least, less painful ones!!!”

For Birgit it was a case of relaxing: “At 2/0 down, it was all about letting go of the pressure, and starting enjoying my squash. I made the ball go to the back of the court better, rallying more, and taking the weight off the ball and she seemed to struggle with that.”

Sam Cornett gets in front

Sam Cornett gets in front

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Monday’s action begins at the KC Stadium at noon with eight matches in the bottom half of the men’s draw while women’s qualifying finals take place at Pontefract.

Full draws, reports, quotes and photos available on the official tournament site: www.BritishOpenSquash.net 

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