World Champion Matthew Off to Winning Start At British Open by Nathan Clarke May 12, 2014
- English squash World Champion Nick Matthew got his 2014 Allam British
Open title challenge off to a winning start, dispatching compatriot Joe
Lee 3-0 in his first round match at the KC Sports Arena in Hull today.
33-year-old Matthew, a
three-time British Open champion, will now take on World No.10 and
fellow English Commonwealth Games medal hopeful Daryl Selby in the
second round on Wednesday as he bids to win the prestigious 'Wimbledon
of squash' for a fourth time.
Essex native Selby
booked his place against Matthew with a 3-1 win over Indian
national champion Saurav Ghosal while there was further success for the
host nation as Londoner Adrian Grant, World No.24, booked his second
round place at the expense of Hong Kong's Leo Au.
"Joe showed that his all round game has improved recently and he really opened my lungs today," said Matthew.
"He hit some great
shots and when I relaxed he was on it so I'm really pleased to get that
as it could have got ugly after the first game.
"I've got a day off
tomorrow which I'll make the most of and it's nice to have the luxury
of going home to Sheffield during this event so I'll go back and
prepare for Wednesday now.
"I'm delighted to be playing in Yorkshire so looking forward to the challenge ahead."
Elsewhere on day one
there were shocks as 27-year-old French World No.23 Mathieu Castagnet
beat Spanish World No.7 Borja Golan in a dramatic 3-2 contest while
Egyptian qualifier Fares Dessouki beat compatriot and World No.18 Karim
Abdel Gawad 3-2.
"It's the first time
I've reached the second round of the British Open so I'm really happy
and even more so to beat someone who is in the top 10 in the world as
well," said Castagnet.
"I think Borja was a little bit tight and nervous today and I'm just delighted to win in five matches.
"I'm really happy to
be coming back on Wednesday - the first thing I need to do is change my
flight and then I will prepare myself as best I can for the next match."
Mohamed Elshorbagy,
Tarek Momen and Karim Darwish completed a quartet of wins for Egypt on
day one to round off the opening day's action.
2014 Allam British Open - First Round, Top Half, Results: [Q] Fares Dessouki (Egy) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 3-2: 11-8, 3-11, 7-11, 11-7, 9-3 (retired injured) [80m] Tarek Momen (Egy) bt [Q] Olli Tuominen (Fin) 3-1: 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 13-11 [49m] Matthew Castagnet (Fra) bt [5] Borja Golan (Esp) 3-2: 5-11, 11-7, 11-5, 1-11, 11-6 [105m] Adrian Grant (Eng) bt [Q] Leo Au (HKG) 3-1: 11-5, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5 [90m] Daryl Selby (Eng) bt Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 3-1: 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 [65m] [4] Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt Alister Walker (Bot) 3-1: 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5 [56m] [1] Nick Matthew (Eng) bt [WC] Joe Lee (Eng) 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 [44m] [8] Karim Darwish (Egy) v [Q] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) 3-1: 14-12, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 [68m]
2014 Allam British Open - First Round, Bottom Half Draw - Tuesday, May 13: [3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [Q] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) Peter Barker (ENG) v Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v Omar Mosaad (EGY) Simon Rösner (GER) v [5] James Willstrop (ENG) [7] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [Q] Max Lee (HKG) Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA) Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [Q] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) Chris Simpson (ENG) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
