Marathon Match-ups Dominate Opening Day Of 2016 Windy City Open by Nathan Clarke photos squashpics.com
February 25, 2016
- The strength and depth of talent on the PSA World Tour was in full
show during the opening day of action at the 2016 Windy City Open
presented by Guggenheim Partners and Equitrust Life Insurance Company
today (March 25) as a series of physically punishing marathon
encounters dominated proceedings at the University Club of Chicago.
Fresh
from the biggest victory of his career at the PSA M70 UCS Swedish Open
earlier this month Egyptian World No.9 Karim Abdel Gawad came within a
whisker of exiting at the first hurdle in a high quality encounter with
World No.40 Paul Coll of New Zealand that set the scene for what was to
follow as six of eight men's matches went beyond the 60-minute mark.
Coll,
who only booked his place in the main draw after coming through two
rounds of qualification, played fearless and composed squash to
unsettle Gawad, twice extending game-leads before he finally succumbed
to the Egyptian in the closing stages of a nail-biting five-game 79
minute encounter.
"Today was not easy at all,” said Gawad.
“He came through qualification but his level today shows that he is
much better than a qualifying player.
"He was the better
player today and he had me under pressure from the very start and
throughout the match. I’m very lucky an happy that I managed to get the
win and move through to the next round.”
Gawad was joined in
the second round by Colombian World No.6 Miguel Angel Rodriguez who
displayed glimpses of the form that took him to a high of No.4 in 2015
in a gruelling 4-game 76 minute victory over England's Chris Simpson.
“That
was a very tough match,” said Rodriguez. “I have played a lot of times
with Chris and I know how tough he is so I think I played well in first
game. But from then on it just got tougher and tougher so I’m very
happy to get through.
“You have to be very consistent to
compete in big events now because all top 20 players are good and no
match can be taken for granted. You have to play hard in every match
and give it 100 per cent.”
Mohamed Abouelghar, Max Lee,
Marwan ElShorbagy and Tom Richards joined Gawad and Rodriguez in
securing hard fought opening round victories while World No.1 Mohamed
Elshorbagy secured his passes to the second round with a more straight
forward 3-0 win over Scotland's Alan Clyne.
In the women's
draw the top seeds enjoyed a similarly straightforward start with World
No.1 Laura Massaro, World No.2 Nicol David and World No.4 Nour El
Sherbini all coming through their first round matches courtesy of
impressive 3-0 wins.
For Massaro, competing as the number
one seed in a PSA World Series tournament for the first time, a return
to form comes as a timely opportunity of her to re-assert her
credentials as the sport’s top player after she suffered a
disappointing quarter-finals exit during January’s J.P. Morgan
Tournament of Champions.
“Coming into a World Series
tournament as the top seed is a very nice feeling and this is the first
time that I’ve ever experienced that so I’m excited to hopefully do
well here,” said Massaro.
“I won this event two years ago so I’ll be doing everything I can this week to try and replicas that.
“I
feel like my form is pretty good coming into this evert. I won the
British Nationals a few weeks ago and I’m happy with how I played today
but I need to make sure I keep on improving and pushing my level up if
I want to go all the way and win the title.”
Results- First Round (Top Half) Men's 2016 Windy City Open [1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Alan Clyne (SCO) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 12-10 (34m) Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt [Q] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-2: 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 10-12, 11-6 (62m) Max Lee (HKG) bt Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-2: 9-11, 3-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-3 (77m) [5] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [Q] Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 (39m) [7] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [Q] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-2: 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 (79m) Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Leo Au (HKG) 3-2: 11-7, 11-13, 11-4, 11-13, 11-9 (74m) Tom Richards (ENG) bt [Q] Raphael Kandra (GER) 3-1: 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 (60m) [4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 3-1: 11-4, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10 (76m\
Draw - First Round (Bottom Half) [3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v James Willstrop (ENG) Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) Daryl Selby (ENG) v Cameron Pilley (AUS) Ali Farag (EGY) v [8] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) [6] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Nicolas Mueller (SUI) Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [Q] Diego Elias (PER) Borja Golan (ESP) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) [WC] Chris Hanson (USA) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
Draw - First Round (Bottom Half) [4] Camille Serme (FRA) v [Q] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) Joey Chan (HKG) v [12] Low Wee Wern (MAS) [10] Joelle King (NZL) v Donna Urquhart (AUS) Salma Hany Ibrahim (EGY) v [7] Amanda Sobhy (USA) [8] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [Q] Mariam Metwally (EGY) Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) v [13] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) [9] Annie Au (HKG) v [Q] Nele Gilis (BEL) [Q] Coline Aumard (FRA) v [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
