World No.1s Off To Winning Start At US Open by Nathan Clarke
photos squashpics.com
October 10, 2015
- World No.1s Mohamed Elshorbagy and Raneem El Welily got their 2015
Delaware Investments US Open campaigns off to successful starts at
Philadelphia’s Drexel University earlier today with comfortable 3-0
wins in their respective first round encounters.
Defending Men’s champion Elshorbagy came through a testing match-up
with tenacious Mexican Cesar Salazar to book his place in the second
round. The 24-year-old from Alexandria, who is now based in Bristol,
England, was forced to draw on plenty of big match experience as he
came from behind to rescue both the first and second games against the
No.30 before eventually pulling away to complete an 11-9, 11-9, 11-8
victory.
“It’s good to be back here in Philadelphia especially because this is
where I first got the World No.1 ranking last year,” said Elshorbagy,
who topped the November 2014 PSA World Rankings courtesy of his
semi-final victory over Grgeory Gaultier en route to taking the title
here 12 months ago.
“Cesar played really well and I know how dangerous he can be. I knew I
couldn’t afford to take him lightly and I’m glad I was lucky enough to
take those crucial points at the end of each of the first two games.
“I’m looking forward to a rest day and coming back here again on Monday for the next match.”
Elshorbagy will now take on Scotland’s Greg Lobban in the second round
after the 23-year-old World No.38 produced the upset of the round to
defeat World No.13 Max Lee in a thrilling 65-minute encounter.
After comfortably defeating Hong Kong’s number two Leo Au to secure his
place in the main draw Lobban inflicted further misery on the Far
Eastern country by defeating Lee, the Hong Kong number one, 11-8, 7-11,
11-6, 2-11, 11-7.
“I’m pretty exhausted to be honest,” said Lobban afterwards. “I had a
tough one against Leo (Au) last night and I knew it was going to be
tough again against Max. He likes to keep the pace really high and it
was a different kind of match today.
“I played Elshorbagy last year at this event and lost three nil but I’m
looking forward to it, it’s good to play these top guys – it’s why I
play these big events.”
In the Women’s event World No.1 Raneem El Welily, who comes into the
event as the top seed for the first time in her career, began her
campaign to dethrone incumbent champion Nicol David - the women she
knocked off the World No.1 ranking spot in September - with an imposing
3-0 win over Emily Whitlock.
El Welily took just 28-minutes to defeat her English opponent during a
day of action that was dominated by Egyptian stars, with Nour El
Sherbini and Nour El Tayeb also progressing to the second round.
“I’m trying to play sharper than I did last week and keep my focus
throughout each match in this tournament and I’ve started well so
hopefully I can keep that going now,” said El Welily, who lost to El
Sherbini in the semi-finals of the Carol Weymuller open last week.
“I enjoy playing this event; it’s a great venue, great court and great
tournament so I’m excited to keep improving each day I play. I’m the
top seed but there’s no pressure on me here. I’m not thinking about any
pressure, I’m just focusing on each match.”
The first round continues on Sunday October 11 with action from the
bottom half of the draw taking centre stage in Philadelphia with all
the action being shown live and exclusively on SQUASHTV at
www.psaworldtour.com/tv
Draw - First Round, Bottom Half: To Be Played Sunday October 11
[4] Alison Waters (ENG) v Victoria Lust (ENG)
[Q] Joelle King (NZL) v [16] Dipika Pallikal (IND)
[9] Annie Au (HKG) v Joshana Chinappa (IND)
[WC] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) v [6] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)
[5] Laura Massaro (ENG) v Heba El Torky (EGY)
Amanda Sobhy (USA) v [14] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[12] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [Q] Kanzy El Defrawy (EGY)
[Q] Joey Chan (HKG) v [2] Nicol David (MAS)
Results - First Round, Top Half: Men’s Delaware Investments US Open
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-0: 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 (50m)
[Q] Greg Lobban (SCO) bt Max Lee (HKG) 3-2: 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 2-11, 11-7 (65m)
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-9, 11-5 (46m)
[5] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 (33m)
[7] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [Q] Ali Farag (EGY) 3-1: 7-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-4 (69m)
Alister Walker (BOT) bt [Q] Alan Clyne (BOT) 3-2: 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 5-11, 11-7 (73m)
Tom Richards (ENG) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 14-16, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (61m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 12-10 (57m)
Draw - First Round, Bottom Half: To Be Played Sunday October 11
[4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v [WC] Christopher Gordon (USA)
Tarek Momen (EGY) v Adrian Waller (ENG)
[Q] Lauren Jan Anjema (NED) v [6] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) v Mazen Hesham (EGY)
Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [Q] Diego Elias (PER)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Q] Zahed Mohamed (EGY)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
