Seeds Crumble In Qatar Classic First Round by Nathan Clarke
photos squashpics.com
October 31, 2015
- The opening day of main draw action at the 2015 Qatar Classic, PSA
World Series tournament, saw half a dozen of the tournament’s top seeds
crash out at the first hurdle as the form book got ripped apart in both
the men’s and women's draws at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex,
Doha.
In the women’s draw India’s Joshana Chinappa set the scene for what was
to follow as she dismissed World No.1 Raneem El Welily 3-1 to record
one of the biggest wins of her career in the day’s opening matchup. The
29-year-old from Chennai came into the second PSA World Series
tournament of the season in form and shot out of the blocks to
establish an early two-game lead over an out-of-sorts El Welily - who’s
performance was littered with errors throughout - from which the
26-year-old from Alexandria couldn’t recover.
“This is by far the best win of my career - it doesn’t get any better
than beating the player at the top of the world rankings,” said
Chinappa.
“I’ve not been looking at my rankings or anything like that of late and
I think that’s showing through in my game. I’m more relaxed on court
and hopefully I can keep my momentum going now and take that into my
next match and see how far I can go.”
Chinappa will face Egyptian Yathreb Adel in the second round after she
upset the odds to record an emphatic 3-0 win over World No.19 Dipika
Pallikal before fellow Egyptian Amina Yousry overcame a gap of over 120
places on the World Rankings to defeat England’s Emily Whitlock in a
five-game thriller.
Yousry edged the first two games courtesy of tie-breaks in what was an
evenly contested and intense battle before Whitlock responded to level
the match at 2-2. But 15-year-old Yousry dug deep to take the fifth and
record a huge upset.
“I’m so happy to have won this match - it’s an amazing feeling,” said Yousry.
“It was my first time playing Emily and up until recently I never
though my game would be good enough to beat someone of her calibre!”
In the men’s tournament qualifiers Ryan Cuskelly and Mohamed Abouelghar
stole the headlines as they dispatched World No.9 Mathieu Castagnet and
former World No.1 James Willstrop, respectively.
Less than a week since winning the biggest title of his career to date
at the Welaptega Bluenose Squash Classic in Canada Cuskelly continued
to enjoy his rich vein of form on the other side of the world as he
dominated from the outset against Castagnet to record one of the best
wins of his career.
“That’s a massive win for me,” said Cuskelly. “He’s such a tough guy
but once I started to get my rhythm going I was able to attack and that
was my game plan.
“I came here straight from Canada where I picked up the biggest title
of my career so playing two qualification matches and then Mathieu was
pretty tough and I can’t really believe I’ve come through. I’m in a
good section of the draw and if I keep playing well I could cause a few
more upsets so hopefully I can keep that momentum going.”
Cuskelly will face England’s Chris Simpson in the second round after
the 28-year-old World No.23 eliminated World No.10 Marwan Elshorbagy
while Abouelghar will face current World No.1 and Egyptian compatriot
Mohamed Elshorbagy.
Abouelghar came from two games down against Willstrop to record a 5-11,
9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9 win and will be hoping to carry his form into
Monday’s encounter with Elshorbagy.
“I am more than happy with my performance today and to come from 2-0
down against someone like James and win is huge for me,” said
Abouelghar.
“He came out determined in the fifth and I’m really happy I managed to
hang on and I’m looking forward to playing against Mohamed now. I know
how tough he is but I feel like I can compete at this level so I’ll
give it everything.”
Results: First Round, Top Half - Men’s Qatar Classic: PSA World Series
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [WC] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 3-0: 11-9, 11-4, 11-9 (42m)
[Q] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 3-2: 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9 (74m)
Max Lee (HKG) bt [Q] Greg Lobban (SCO) 3-1: 4-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-4 (51m)
[5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 3-2: 11-7, 12-14, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 (86m)
[Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [7] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 3-1: 3-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-2 (49m)
Chris Simpson (ENG) bt Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) 3-1: 13-11, 6-11, 11-3, 14-12 (65m)
Adrian Waller (ENG) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7 (46m)
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 3-1: 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-5 (63m)
Draw: First Round, Bottom Half - Men’s Qatar Classic: PSA World Series (To be played Nov 1st)
[4] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [Q] Leo Au (HKG)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [Q] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v [Q] Alan Clyne (SCO)
[Q] Ali Farag (EGY) v [6] Peter Barker (ENG)
[8] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Tom Richards (ENG) v [Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA)
Fares Dessouki (EGY) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
Borja Golan (ESP) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Draw: First Round, Bottom Half - Women’s Qatar Classic: PSA World Series (To be played Nov 1st)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [Q] Coline Aumard (FRA)
[Q] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v [14] Amanda Sobhy (USA)
[9] Rachael Grinham (AUS) v Heba El Torky (EGY)
[Q] Olivia Blatchford (USA) v [6] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
[7] Annie Au (HKG) v Joey Chan (HKG)
[Q] Mayar Hany (EGY) v [11] Jenny Duncalf (ENG)
[16] Victoria Lust (ENG) v Tesni Evans (WAL)
Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) v [2] Nicol David (MAS)
