Day One - British Grand Prix Qualifying
-World Junior Champion El Shorbagy Advances
from DailySquashReport.com
September 17, 2011 - Recently-crowned World Junior Champion Marwan El Shorbagy of Egypt put away 8th-seeded Joey Barrington of England last night in a decisive three to advance to the final round of the men’s British Grand Prix qualifying in Wolverhampton.
Seeds otherwise held form throughout the first round, with the exception of world #126 Anthony Graham of England defeating Julien Balbo of France, the world #62, in a sprited 69-minute four-gamer.
Eight final-round qualifying matches are on tap for today, with the winners gaining coveted slots in the Rowe British Grand Prix main draw, which begins play on Monday in Manchester.
Howard Harding Files This Report:
Ryder Romps Into ROWE British Grand Prix Qualifying Finals
Local hero Chris Ryder led a trio of Englishman through to the qualifying finals of the ROWE British Grand Prix after despatching fellow countryman Andrew Birks in straight games in the first qualifying round of the PSA World Series squash event at the Wolverhampton Lawn Tennis & Squash Club in Wolverhampton.
Ryder, the club's former pro now based in Leamington Spa, defeated Shropshire lad Birks - ranked over 200 places lower - 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 in 40 minutes.
"My new coach has worked on making me much more aggressive on court, hitting the ball much harder than I used to, as well as improving my fitness," said the 31-year-old world No38 afterwards.
Ryder, hoping to make his second successive appearance in the ROWE British Grand Prix - which gets underway at the National Squash Centre in Manchester on Monday - will now face Henrik Mustonen in the qualifying finals. The Finn needed just 23 minutes to see off beat Englishman Oliver Mapp 11-2, 11-2, 11-4.
Londoner Robbie Temple survived an all-English clash with Ben Ford, recovering from a game down to beat the experienced 36-year-old from Kent 7-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-9 in 58 minutes.
The Gloucester-born 25-year-old will now face Egyptian sensation Marwan El Shorbagy. The 18-year-old world junior champion from Alexandria, who is coached by British legend Jonah Barrington, produced one of the biggest upsets of the day when he beat Jonah's higher-ranked son Joey Barrington - a regular training partner - 11-8, 11-3, 11-7 in 44 minutes.
But an earlier major shock resulted in unexpected home interest in the final qualifying round when Anthony Graham defeated Frenchman Julien Balbo, who is ranked seventy places higher in the world rankings.
Both the first and second games went to 10-all and could have gone either way - and were shared - but at one-all and 7-7 in the third, the in-form Graham, playing tight accurate squash, forced a frustrated Balbo into making too many errors, eventually closing out the game 11-9.
But, after staging a significant comeback in the fourth, Gloucestershire-based Graham ran out a 10-12, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7 winner after 69 minutes.
"My aim this year was to beat a top sixty ranked player," said Graham - who narrowly missed his aim by two ranking places!
The Zimbabwe-born 21-year-old - ranked 126 in the world - now takes on South Africa's world No34 Stephen Coppinger, a 15-13, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7 winner over New Zealander Campbell Grayson.
Yesterday's British Grand Prix 1st Roung Qualifying Results:
Simon Rosner GER v Richard Birks ENG 12-10 11-9 11-6
Siddarth Suchde IND v Declan James ENG 11-5 11-5 11-8
Rafael Alarcon BRA v Matthew Castagnet FRA 11-8 11-3 8-11 11-3
Mohammad Abbas EGY v Kristian Frost DEN 11-5 11-4 11-2
Chris Ryder ENG v Andrew Birks ENG 11-4 11-4 11-4
Henrik Mustonen FIN v Oliver Mapp ENG 11-2 11-2 11-4
Nafiizwan Adnan MAS v Chris Simpson ENG 13-11 7-11 11-5 12-10
Nicolas Mueller SUI v Adrain Waller ENG 11-8 11-5 11-5
Borja Golan ESP v Aaron Frankcomb AUS 11-4 10-12 11-6 11-6
Greg Marche FRA v Greg Lee HKG 11-9 13-11 2-11 11-5
Robbie Temple ENG v Ben Ford ENG 7-11 11-3 11-7 11-9
Joey Barrington ENG v Marwan El Shorbagy EGY 11-8 11-3 11-7
Steve Coppinger RSA v Campbell Grayson NZL 15-13 11-9 5-11 11-7
Julien Balbo FRA v Anthony Graham ENG 10-12 12-10 11-9 11-7
Alan Clyne SCO v Oliver Holland ENG 11-7 11-4 11-3
Tarek Momen EGY v Darren Lewis ENG 11-3 11-5 11-7
Today's Qualifying Finals Line-Up:
Simon Rosner (GER) v Siddharth Suchde (IND)
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v Mohammed Abbas (EGY)
Chris Ryder (ENG) v Henrik Mustonen (FIN)
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) v Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Borja Golan (ESP)
Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) v Robbie Temple (ENG)
Anthony Graham (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
Tarek Momen (EGY) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
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