Defending Champions Farag & El Tayeb Get U.S. Open Campaigns Under Way by Sean Reuthe
photos PSA
October 7, 2018
- Defending FS Investments U.S. Open champions Ali Farag and Nour El
Tayeb got their title defences under way with victories in round two of
the PSA World Tour Platinum event held at Philadelphia’s Drexel
University.
Farag and El Tayeb etched their names into
the history books at last year’s tournament as they became the first
married couple in sporting history to win the same major sports title
on the same day - and World No.2 Farag began his title assault at the
2018 instalment with a 3-0 win over Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller.
“It’s never easy to start off against Nicky,” said Farag.
“He’s a very tricky player and he’s very
dangerous at the front of the court, so I had to keep my metal and keep
it deep in the corners because I know that if I leave it at the front
then I can’t really read him because he’s got all of those trick shots.
“One or two of those games could have gone either way, so I’m happy to get off with a 3-0 win."
Farag will take on Welshman Joel Makin for
a place in the quarter-finals after he toppled Frenchman Mathieu
Castagnet, while World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy began his tournament
with a comfortable 3-0 victory over United States men’s No.1 Todd
Harrity.
ElShorbagy, a two-time U.S. Open champion,
lost out to Farag in last year’s title decider, but he laid down a
marker for the rest of the tournament as he downed training partner
11-6, 11-4, 11-4 Harrity in just 27 minutes.
“I really love playing here,” said reigning
World Champion ElShorbagy, who fell to Farag in the Oracle NetSuite
Open final earlier this week.
"I have played in three finals here and won
twice. This is also where I got to World No.1 in 2013 when I won the
tournament, so I have good memories here and I really hope that I can
keep that momentum going and hopefully I play another good event here.”
ElShorbagy will play World No.11 Saurav
Ghosal in the third round, where he will be joined by fellow Egyptians
Tarek Momen and Karim Abdel Gawad, who defeated former World No.1 James
Willstrop and Greg Lobban, respectively.
In the day’s longest match, World No.20
Declan James came back from 2-0 down to defeat fellow Englishman Adrian
Waller in a marathon 101-minute spectacle and his reward is a third
round matchup with 2016 World Champion Gawad.
World No.3 El Tayeb dispatched India’s
Dipika Pallikal Karthik in straight games in the women’s tournament and
she will line up against United States No.2 Amanda Sobhy in round three
after she defeated England’s Victoria Lust 3-1.
“Lusty and I have played a lot of times,” said former World No.6 Sobhy.
“We know each other’s game and I know how
deadly she can be, but I was looking forward to getting into a solid
match. She played really well so I really had to step up and play at
that top level and I’m happy to win and move onto the next round."
The leading American in the women’s game -
World No.16 Olivia Blatchford - is also through to the last 16 after
taking out England’s Emily Whitlock in four games and she will take on
World Champion Raneem El Welily, who overcame the experienced Rachael
Grinham.
“Emily is a great player,” said Blatchford following her victory.
“Our rankings are pretty much the same, so
it’s completely evenly matched. She came out firing and it was all
super close and to be playing Raneem in the next round here is awesome."
World No.1 Nour El Sherbini began her
tournament with victory over Hong Kong’s Joey Chan to set up a third
round meeting with World No.9 Alison Waters, while World No.11 Nicol
David and World No.6 Laura Massaro - who have five U.S. Open titles
between them - will meet for the third tournament in a row and the 34th
time on the PSA Tour after respective wins over Australia’s Donna
Lobban and England’s Millie Tomlinson.
World No.8 Sarah-Jane Perry also won on day
two as she defeated Egypt’s Nada Abbas and she will play India’s Joshna
Chinappa in the next round as she looks to follow up the Oracle
NetSuite Open title that she won earlier this week.
The third round of the U.S. Open begins at
12:00 local time (GMT-4) on Monday October 8 and the action will be
shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World), Eurosport Player (Europe only)
and DAZN (Japan).
Results – Men’s Second Round: 2018 FS Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Todd Harrity (USA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-4 (27m) Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 (42m) Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt Nathan Lake (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (31m) [7] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 15-13, 11-8, 11-9 (43m) [8] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Diego Elias (PER) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 (46m) Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 3-2: 11-5, 4-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7 (78m) Declan James (ENG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-2: 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 19-17, 16-14 (101m) [3] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 (34m) [4] Simon Rösner (GER) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 3-2: 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3 (69m) George Parker (ENG) bt Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) 3-2: 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 13-11 (70m) Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt Max Lee (HKG) 3-2: 14-12, 6-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7 (76m) [5] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 (44m) [6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 3-1: 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3 (53m) Zahed Salem (EGY) bt Leo Au (HKG) 3-1: 12-10, 7-11, 11-5, 11-4 (51m) Joel Makin (WAL) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 3-1: 4-11, 15-13, 11-9, 12-10 (86m) [2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (33m)
Draw - Men’s Third Round (Top Half): To Be Played October 8 [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v Saurav Ghosal (IND) Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v [7] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) [8] Paul Coll (NZL) v Omar Mosaad (EGY) Declan James (ENG) v [3] Tarek Momen (EGY)
Draw - Men’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played October 9 [4] Simon Rösner (GER) v George Parker (ENG) Cesar Salazar (MEX) v [5] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) [6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Zahed Salem (EGY) Joel Makin (WAL) v [2] Ali Farag (EGY)
Draw - Women’s Third Round (Top Half): To Be Played October 8 [1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [10] Alison Waters (ENG) [15] Salma Hany (EGY) v Yathreb Adel (EGY) [5] Camille Serme (FRA) v [11] Annie Au (HKG) Amanda Sobhy (USA) v [3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Draw - Women’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played October 9 [4] Joelle King (NZL) v [12] Tesni Evans (WAL) [16] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v [8] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) [7] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [9] Nicol David (MAS) [14] Olivia Blatchford (USA) v [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
