Ashour Scheduled to Make Swedish Open Debut by Howard Harding 12 December 2013
- Egypt's reigning World No.1 Ramy Ashour is set to play his first ever
match on Swedish soil when the 2014 Case Swedish Open gets underway in
Linköping in February.
The top-seeded
26-year-old from Cairo will make his Swedish debut against top-ranked
German Simon Rosner in the 11th staging of the biggest PSA World Tour
event in continental Europe at Linköping Sporthall.
"It will be very
exciting to play the Case Swedish Open since I have heard so many great
things about this professional tournament and it will be the first time
I play a tournament in Sweden," Ashour told the event's website
www.swedishopensquash.se/en
Tournament director
Fredrik Johnson, who launched the event in 2002, added: "The fact that
we now have the world number one Ashour for the Case Swedish Open is
probably the best thing that has happened so far to this world class
event and it ensures that we again have a world event to look forward
to here in Sweden."
France's defending
Swedish Open champion Gregory Gaultier, looking for a third successive
title, is the event's No.2 seed and faces a qualifier in the opening
round.
England's Nick
Matthew, three times the champion from 2009-2011, is the No.3 seed -
but will be bidding to make the final for a sixth successive time since
2004. The 33-year-old World Champion from Sheffield takes on England
team-mate Tom Richards in the opening round - and is expected to line
up against Gaultier in the semis, in a repeat of November's PSA World
Championship final.
Fourth seed Borja
Golan, the World No.7, will also be making his Swedish Open debut. The
highest-ranked Spaniard of all-time, who reached the first PSA World
Series final of his career at this month's Hong Kong Open, begins his
campaign against a qualifier.
1st round draw: [1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Simon Rosner (GER) [8] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [WC] Rasmus Hult (SWE) [6] Amr Shabana (EGY) v Qualifier [4] Borja Golan (ESP) v Qualifier [3] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Tom Richards (ENG) [7] Daryl Selby (ENG) v Qualifier [5] Peter Barker (ENG) v Cameron Pilley (AUS) [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Qualifier
