Qualifying Complete In Hong Kong $225K Open
by Steve Cubbins
photo courtesy Steve Cubbins
November 14, 2011
HK Girls progress as Castagnet celebrates his 25th ...
Both Hong Kong hopefuls bowed out in the men's qualifying finals at the Hong Kong Squash Centre, but two of the products of the Girls' development program provided home success [and then drew the top two seeds in the main draw], while France's Mathieu Castagnet celebrated his 25th birthday with a first-ever place in the main draw.
HK pair bow out, Mathieu celebrates
In the men's qualifying finals there was disappointment for both Hong Kong players. Leo Au's marathon win yesterday took too much out of him as he lost in four games to Malaysia'sIvan Yuen, and Dick Lau was beaten in straight games by Gregoire Marche.
Birthday boy Mathieu Castagnet made it a French double as he squeezed past England's Chris Ryder in three close games, and Nafiizwan Adnan made it two Malaysians through as he beat Matthew Karwalski in a more convincing three games.
Top seed Tarek Momen seemed to benefit from having a first round bye as he pulled clear from one-all with Siddarth Suchde, and Scotland's Alan Clyne enjoyed a rare quick victory over Yann Perrin.
Kiwi Martin Knight won the longest match of the day, taking it 11/5 in the fifth after seeing a two-game lead disappear against Harinderpal Sandhu, and the last spot was taken by Spaniard Borja Golan with a going-away straight-game win over Kamran Khan.
New faces through in women's qualifying
The first winners of the day were two players delighted to make it to the main draw for the first time.
Coline Aumard and Misaki Kobayashi both eased through their first games - 11/2 and 11/1 respectively - before encountering stiffer resistance from Siti Munirah Jusoh and Choi Uen-Shah, but both came through in straight games.
"It's my first time in Hong Kong, and I've qualified, I'm so happy," said Aumard who certainly showed it meant a lot with her determination to finish the match off.
Kobayashi was similarly pleased: "It's my third Gold event and the first one I've qualified for. I love Hong Kong too so it couldn't happen in a better place!
"After winning the first easily I tried to do too much in the second and made mistakes, I was pleased to win that 3/0 in the end," admitted the Japanese number one. "I'm so excited, I really don't mind who I play."
Olga Ertlova also qualified for the first time, also in straight games after recovering from a big deficit in the first against Carmen Lee.
Someone definitely not qualifying for the first time was Tania Bailey, who beat young Indian prospect Anaka Alankamony in four games.
"I didn't really feel comfortable on there," admitted the32-year-old Englishwoman, "so I'm just glad to get out of qualifying and I hope that's woken me up a bit for the next round.
"I think the first time I made the main draw here was 12 years ago, and over that time I've lost in every round from the first right up to the final, so I feel quite comfortable here.
"I'd rather not play Nicol after the form she showed last week in Rotterdam, but other than that I don't mind, I think I can give anyone else a good run on the day."
Two popular wins followed as Hong Kong juniors Lee Ka Yi and Tong Tsz-Wing, coached by Rebecca Chiu and encouraged by new Macau Open champion Joey Chan, both won in four games against Lauren Selby and Siyoli Waters respectively.
Chiu was delighted: "We knew they all had chances, but they both took theirs well, and getting to the main draw will be good for their exposure and development, getting experience against the top players.
[They'll get experience against the top players, that's for sure, as the pair were drawn to play the top two seeds Nicol David and Jenny Duncalf !]
"We have a lot of juniors coming through, so hopefully we can get even more into the main draw next year!"
The final two spots were claimed by New Zealand's Kylie Lindsay, who beat HK's Karman Siu in straight games, and Germany's Sina Wall.
"I got a bit overconfident when I was 2-0 up, I thought I could relax but I couldn't, so I was glad to take that third," said a delighted Wall, who beat England's Carrie Ramsey 11/7, 11/6, 13/11.
"I played in HK in the world juniors in 2007, but this is my first Hong Kong Open, it's great to qualify for such a big tournament."
Men's Qualifying Finals:
Tarek Momen (Egy) bt Siddarth Suchde (Ind) 11/5, 8/11, 11/3, 11/2 (41m)
Ivan Yuen (Mas) bt Leo Au (Hkg) 11/8, 7/11, 11/5, 11/8 (66m)
Martin Knight (Nzl) bt Harinderpal Sandhu (Ind) 11/5, 11/9, 7/11, 4/11, 11/5 (70m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Chris Ryder (Eng) 12/10, 11/9, 12/10 (60m)
Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Yann Perrin (Fra) 11/6, 11/4, 11/9 (25m)
Gregoire Marche (Fra) bt Dick Lau (Hkg) 11/7, 11/5, 11/2 (37m)
Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) bt Matthew Karwalski (Aus) 11/7, 11/7, 11/4 (32m)
Borja Golan (Esp) bt Kamran Khan (Mas) 11/7, 11/9, 11/1 (48m)
Draw: Matthew v Knight, Tuominen v Golan, Shabana v Adnan, Iskandar v Marche, Shorbagy v Clyne, Richards v Castagnet, Mueller v Momen, Darwish v Yuen
Women's Qualifying Finals:
Coline Aumard (Fra) bt Siti Munirah Juson (Mas) 11/2, 11/8, 11/8 (35m)
Olga Ertlova (Cze) bt Carmen Lee (Hkg) 12/10, 11/9, 11/8 (40m)
Tania Bailey (Eng) bt Anaka Alankamony (Ind) 11/2, 11/9, 7/11, 11/2 (45m)
Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Uen Shan Choi (Hkg) 11/1, 11/9, 11/5 (21m)
Lee Ka Yi (Hkg) bt Lauren Selby (Eng) 10/12, 11/7, 11/4, 11/4 (40m)
Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg) bt Siyoli Waters (Rsa) 11/9, 9/11, 11/4, 11/8 (42m)
Sina Wall (Ger) bt Carrie Ramsey (Eng) 11/7, 11/6, 13/11 (38m)
Kylie Lindsay (Nzl) bt Karman Siu (Hkg) 11/3, 11/7, 11/6 (28m)
Draw: David v Tong, Massaro v Ertlova, Arnold v Aumard, Hawkes v Bailey, King v Kobayashi, Weleily v Wall, Low v Lindsay, Duncalf v Yi
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