Gaultier Relishing 2014 Hong Kong Open Draw by Nathan Clarke July 23, 2014
- The Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Series will resume in
the Asian city of Hong Kong on August 26, when World No.1 Gregory
Gaultier will look to end the summer break in style by claiming his
first ever Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open
title.
The Frenchman, a
four-time runner-up in the Hong Kong Open, entered the off-season in
dramatic style by beating England's World No.2 Nick Matthew in the 2014
Allam British Open final, and he'll be hoping to keep up the form that
has seen him hold exclusive rights on the No.1 ranking since
April.
Having won his first
ever Hong Kong Open title in 2013, Matthew will be a notable absentee
this year, but Gaultier will face stiff competition from a world class
field including two-time World Champion Ramy Ashour and two-time World
Junior Champion Mohamed Elshorbagy.
But the recently
married star from Aix-en-Provence is relishing the prospect of
returning to one of his favourite PSA World Series venues.
"I have just recently come back from my honeymoon so I'm back training hard and preparing for the season," said Gaultier.
"With a long break
it's never easy to play well in the first event, but i'll be looking at
getting some good matches in my legs and to find my marks.
"Hong Kong is early
this year and, as with every event, I will look forward to it. I have
lots of motivation to do well there - I have never won it so maybe this
year can be the one for me.
"I always love coming
to Hong Kong. After all the years playing there I have lots of friends
and the event is always very well organised and they really make the
players feel comfortable.
"I have never missed the Hong Kong Open and won't miss it until the end of my career."
Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open - Main Draw:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [Qualifier] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [Qualifier] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) v [Qualifier] Max Lee (HKG) v [8] Daryl Selby (ENG) [5] Borja Golan (ESP) v [Qualifier] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) v [Qualifier] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v [Qualifier] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [4] James Willstrop (ENG) [3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) Chris Simpson (ENG) v [Qualifier] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Cameron Pilley (AUS) Gregoire Marche (FRA) v [7] Karim Darwish (EGY) [6] Peter Barker (ENG) v Adrian Waller (ENG) Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Qualifier] Simon Rösner (GER) v [WC] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY)
The 2014 Hong Kong
Open will see 56 of the world's finest players converge on Hong Kong
from August 24 - August 31 to contest what is the most prestigious PSA
World Tour event in Asia and the longest running tournament on the PSA
World Series calendar.
