Top Seed Gaultier Survives Scare In World Championship Opener by Nathan Clarke November 14, 2014
- French World No.2 and number one seed Gregory Gaultier narrowly
avoided crashing out of the 2014 Qatar PSA World Championships at the
first hurdle today at Doha's Khalifa Tennis and Sports Complex, having
to come from two games down to get past his opponent, Egyptian
qualifier Andrew Wagih Shoukry.
Gaultier, who is competing in his 150th PSA World Tour event, looked in
lacklustre form during the opening two games as Shoukry, who earned his
place in the main draw after his qualifying opponent Shehab Essam Hosny
failed to turn up, stormed into an early lead.
The 24-year-old World No.72 belied his ranking to stun the Frenchman,
who has suffered heartbreak in four World Championship finals, but the
man known on tour as 'The General' rallied to turn the match on its
head and complete a 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 turnaround victory.
"I didn't feel good at all today," said Gaultier afterwards.
"I felt off and things were not working, but it's better to play like
that early and still go through because as long as I win I don't care
how I do it - I train to win even if I'm not at 100 per cent.
"He had no fear and played well but I didn't really feel in danger. At
2-0 down I just told myself to start over again and pretend it was 0-0
and find my patience.
"You have to deal with these things I need to get on the practice court
tomorrow and try and find my rhythm and tomorrow is another day."
Gaultier's likely semi-final opponent, Egyptian World No.5 Ramy Ashour,
made is highly anticipated return to PSA World Tour action with a
convincing 3-0 victory over Malaysian Ivan Yuen.
The two-time World Champion from Cairo has missed the better part of
the past 12 months following an horrendous run of injuries but his
title rivals will have been paying attention as he came through in
emphatic fashion, taking the match 11-5, 14-12, 11-5.
Elsewhere on the opening day of main round action Scotland's Greg
Lobban pulled off an upset win over Finland's Henrik Mustonen to become
the only qualifier to progress in the top half of the draw, while
championship hopefuls Borja Golan, Omar Mosaad and Peter Barker all
began their campaigns with wins.
The action from the bottom half of the first round will take place tomorrow (Saturday November 15)
Results: First Round, Top Half - 2014 Squash World Championship:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) 3-2: 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 [57m]
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Mazen Hesham (EGY) 3-1: 13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5 [51m]
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 3-2: 11-8, 1-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 [55m]
[9] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [WC] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 3-1: 11-8 11-8, 10-12, 11-5 [53m]
[16] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [Q] Rex Hedrick (AUS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-2, 11-8
Alister Walker (BOT) bt [Q] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 3-1: 10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6 [44m]
Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Joe Lee (ENG) 3-2: [75m] 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9 [75m]
[7] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 3-1: 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6 [67m]
[6] Borja Golan (ESP) bt Leo Au (HKG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 [51m]
[Q] Greg Lobban (SCO) bt Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 3-0: 11,4 11-4, 11-4 [31m]
Fares Dessouki (EGY) bt [Q] Farhan Zaman (PAK) 3-1: 11-8, 11-0, 6-11, 11-9 [46m]
[13] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-7, retired
[12] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Shaun Le Roux (RSA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-6 [24m]
Zahed Mohamed (EGY) bt [Q] Ben Coleman (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 [49m]
Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Piedro Schweertman (NED) 3-1: 9-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-7 [42m]
[4] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Ivan Yuen (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 14-12, 11-5 [32m]
