British Open Men's Qualifying Complete As NY-Based Ryan Cuskelly Advances
by Steve Cubbins
El Shorbagy v Abouelghar
May 13, 2012 - The first players to book their spots in the main draw at the O2 were Scotland's Alan Clyne and England's Chris Simpson, with contrasting straight-game wins over Siddarth Suchde and Zac Alexander. Clyne was always in control against Siddarth Suchde, and so generally was Simpson against Zac Alexander, but the Aussie took longer to subdue, falling just short in a third-game comeback from 9/4 down to lose it 12/10.
"I felt I played well today, I never felt realhis first British Open main draw: ly under pressure, even in the second, when he picked the pace up, I was able to adapt rather well," said Clyne, who attributed much of his his good recent form to "some hard weeks of training with Roger Flynn in Edinburgh."
Simpson was equally pleased to reach his first British Open main draw: "Yes, I’m happy, you can always be happier, that third game should have been easier, but that’s being a perfectionist," he said.
Two 'local derbies' followed as Jonathan Kemp blazed a winning trail past Robbie Temple to add to the English contingent in the main draw, while Marwan El Shorbagy met Mohamed Abouelgar in an all-Egyptian junior clash that went all the way.
El Shorbagy went 2-0 up with Abouelghar making too many errors, but he cut those out, levelled the match and was firing in some lovely winners to go 8/4 up in the decider. Marwan fought back though, and took in 11/9 to survive another day and join his brother in the main draw at the O2.
"Frankly, I have no idea how I won that match," admitted the younger of the El Shorbagy brothers. "I’m so happy to survive another day, my aim for this event was to reach the main draw, but not against my brother obviously…."
Next onto court - after a mid-schedule gap - were Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet and Malaysia's Nafiizwan Adnan. Just short of two hours later they came off, Castagnet having won a mammoth encounter 12/10 in the fifth. "He seems to have a propensity for long five-setters," said one observer.
Castagnet himself was relieved as well as pleased: "Honestly, I would say that he deserves the victory more than I did, but still I think it was a great match. That’s the kind of matches you want to play, win or lose, and that is good for the image of squash."
Hong Kong's Max Lee and Aussie Ryan Cuskelly took the next two main draw spots, both coming from a game down to win in 67 minutes, against Amr Khaled Khalifa and Abdullah Al Mezayen respectively, and both were delighted.
"It was not my best ever performance," said Lee, "but I’m so happy to win, so happy to score those 6 points in a row to win the match. It’s my first British Open, I hope I can keep the momentum going, keep the body, the performance going."
The final match of the night was another long five-setter which saw young Frenchman Greg Marche join Castagnet in the main draw after a 100-minute upset victory over Egypt's Karim Abdel Gawad. "At last a five-setter that I win," said a delighted Marche, who now plays LJ Anjema on Tuesday while Castagnet faces a meeting with Mohamed El Shorbagy on Monday.
Men's Qualifying Finals:
Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Siddarth Suchde (Ind) 11/6, 11/5, 11/7 (38m)
Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Zac Alexander (Aus) 11/4, 11/7, 12/10 (56m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt Robbie Temple (Eng) 11/8, 11/7, 13/11 (43m)
Marwan El Shorbagy (Egy) bt Mohamed Abouelghar (Egy) 13/11, 11/4, 9/11, 8/11, 11/9 (59m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) 11/13, 11/9, 8/11, 11/8, 12/10 (112m)
Max Lee (Hkg) bt Amr Khaled Khalifa (Egy) 5/11, 11/8, 11/5, 13/11 (67m)
Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Abdullah Al Mezayen (Kuw) 5/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/7 (67m)
Gregoire Marche (Fra) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 12/10, 9/11, 9/11, 11/9, 11/8 (100m)
Main draw placements:
Walker v Simpson, Shorbagy v Castagnet, Matthew v Lee, Coppinger v Clyne, Anjema v Marche, Barker v Cuskelly, Ghosal v Marwan, Rodriguez v Kemp
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