Tarek Momen Upsets James Willstrop in $150K Hong Kong Open 1st Round from PSA Media August 26, 2014
- The form book was turned upside down during the opening day of action
at the 2014 Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open
as qualifiers Fares Dessouki, Zahed Mohamed, Shaun Le Roux and Alfredo
Avila joined Egyptian Tarek Momen by dispatching higher ranked
opponents in their first round encounters.
The biggest shock of
the day saw World No.6 and No.3 seed James Willstrop, the 31-year-old
former World No.1 and 2011 Hong Kong Open champion, bow out in the
opening round of a PSA World Tour event for the first time since the
2006 World Championship at the hands of 26-year-old Egyptian Momen.
Willstrop, a 17-time
PSA World Tour event winner, showed signs that he may still be
struggling with a hip problem which will be operated on in September,
but Momen took no chances against the dangerous Englishman, completing
an impressive 11-9, 12-10, 11-8 victory.
"I'm really pleased that I got through that match and beating James in a first round match is quite something," said Momen.
"I think he was
struggling with his movement from the start of the match and hopefully
it isn't anything too serious and he has a speedy recovery.
"Hopefully I can keep
improving my game in the next round. I think I played well today and
all I wish for is to build upon this and keep the momentum going."
The World No.12 took
just over 40-minutes to see off the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games
silver medalist and will take on Shaun Le Roux in the second round,
after the South African qualifier recorded an upset of his own by
taking out World No.30 Olli Tuominen 3-1.
Fresh from securing
his place in the main draw at the expense of World No.32 Tom Richards
in qualifying, 23-year-old World No.52 Alfredo Avila secured one of the
biggest wins of his career when he beat Egyptian World No.17 Marwan
Elshorbagy 3-2.
In a tough physical
encounter, Mexican Avila continued his recent run of form to impress
the crowd, coming through 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 to reach the
second round of a World Series event for the first time in his career
where he will face German champion Simon Rösner.
"I am so happy to have won that match, it is one of the biggest wins of my career," said Avila.
"This is the first time I have got this far in a World Series event and I'm delighted.
"Getting to the second
round is amazing for me and I'm very excited. I know it will be a tough
match but I'm playing well and i just want to enjoy it."
Elseswhere 19-year-old
Dessouki, who impressed by reaching the quarter-final stage of the
prestigious Allam British Open in May, out battled World No.19 Mathieu
Castagnet in an attritional affair while World No.1 Gregory Gaultier,
World No.10 Daryl Selby and Egyptian Omar Abdel Meguid came through
their first round encounters unscathed.
Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open 2014 - Round 1, Day 1, Results:
Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open 2014 - Round 1, Day 2, Schedule:
[4] Borja Golan (ESP) v Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) Joe Lee (ENG) v [Q] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Cameron Pilley (AUS) Gregoire Marche (FRA) v [6] Karim Darwish (EGY) [5] Peter Barker (ENG) v Adrian Waller (ENG) Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Q] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) Chris Simpson (ENG) v [WC] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY)
