It was a busy day at Hong Kong Squash Centre with all 64 players in Round One action across four courts. The 32-player Platinum draws – new for this season – with just eight seeds in each draw meant there were plenty of compelling early matches.
Despite a few scares all 16 seeds progressed to Round Two – which will be played over the next two days – but there was no joy for the locals as all six Hong Kong players were beaten.
The biggest shock came as four-time Hong Kong Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy – who would have been the 9th seed – was knocked out in straight games by Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann.
Check out the afternoon and evening roundups below the results …
Women’s Round One :
[1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-0 Zeina Mickawy (Egy) 11-4, 11-6, 11-9 (32m)
Satomi Watanabe (Jpn) 3-0 Lucy Beecroft (Eng) 11-2, 11-3, 11-7 (22m)
Lisa Aitken (Sco) 3-1 Tomato Ho (Hkg) 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-4 (48m)
[8] Rowan Elaraby (Egy) 3-0 Lee Ka Yi (Hkg) 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 (27m)
[5] Nele Coll (Bel) 3-2 Aira Azman (Mas) 7-11, 11-13, 11-8, 14-12, 11-7 (58m)
Siva Subramaniam (Mas) 3-2 Fayrouz Aboelkheir (Egy) 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5 (48m)
Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 3-1 Rachel Arnold (Mas) 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 (34m)
[4] Olivia Weaver (Usa) 3-0 Grace Gear (Eng) 11-5, 11-2, 11-9 (24m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (Egy) 3-0 Hana Ramadan (Egy) 11-9, 11-4, 13-11 (35m)
Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 3-0 Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 (29m)
Hollie Naughton (Can) 3-1 Nour Aboulmakarim (Egy) 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 16-14 (44m)
[7] Tinne Gilis (Bel) 3-0 Emily Whitlock (Wal) 11-1, 11-5, 11-6 (26m)
[6] Gina Kennedy (Eng) 3-0 Helen Tang (Hkg) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 (24m)
Sana Ibrahim (Egy) 3-0 Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg) 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (28m)
Joelle King (Nzl) 3-1 Aifa Azman (Mas) 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7 (36m)
[2] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-0 Lucy Turmel (Eng) 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (41m)
Men’s Round One :
[1] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-1 Henry Leung (Hkg) 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (41m)
Baptiste Masotti (Fra) 3-0 Patrick Rooney (Eng) 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 (24m)
Mohamed Zakaria (Egy) 3-1 Timothy Brownell (Usa) 11-2, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 (60m)
[6] Mazen Hesham (Egy) 3-0 Greg Lobban (Sco) 11-7, 13-11, 11-9 (40m)
[5] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 3-1 Raphael Kandra (Ger) 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-3 (35m)
Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 3-1 Alex Lau (Hkg) 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 (48m)
Dimitri Steinmann (Sui) 3-0 Mohamed ElShorbagy (Eng) 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (23m)
[4] Diego Elias (Per) w/o Mohamed ElSherbini (Egy) ElSherbini w/d injured
[3] Paul Coll (Nzl) 3-0 Eain Yow Ng (Mas) 11-2, 11-9, 11-6 (42m)
Miguel Rodriguez (Col) 3-0 Iker Pajares (Esp) 7-2 rtd (12m)
Fares Dessouky (Egy) 3-0 Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 11-7, 11-5, 11-2 (27m)
[8] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-0 Gregoire Marche (Fra) 11-5, 11-8, 11-3 (44m)
[7] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-1 Ramit Tandon (Ind) 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 (39m)
Marwan ElShorbagy (Eng) 3-0 Victor Crouin (Fra ) 11-6, 11-7, 11-9 (29m)
Auguste Dussourd (Fra) 3-0 Leandro Romiglio (Arg) 14-12, 11-8, 11-8 (55m)
[2] Mostafa Asal (Egy) 3-0 Leonel Cardenas (Mex) 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 (51m)
Evening Roundup : End of the line for HK stars as all seeds progress
The evening session started with the last two Hong Kong players leaving the tournament – Tong Tsz-Wing beaten by Egypt’s Sana Ibrahim and Helen Tang losing out to England’s Gina Kennedy, both in straight games.
The 17.00 and 18.00 matches all went to seeding, as Hania El Hammany and Amanda Sobhy set up an intriguing repeat of lasy year’s final with wins over Hana Ramadan and Jasmine Hutton.
Spain’s Iker Pajares suffered an injury early in this match with Miguel Rodriguez and was unable to continue, while men’s defending champion Paul Coll made quick work of Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng.
The late drama was provided as Canada’s Hollie Naughton came through a frenetic finish to beat Nour Aboulmakarim 16-14 in the fourth.
Afternoon Matches : Hong Kong quartet bow out
It wasn’t a good start for hosts Hong Kong and Tomato Ho and Alex Lau both lost in the first round of matches, to Scotland’s Lisa Aitken – making a successful return after a long injury layoff – and Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim who recovered from a game down to beat Lau.
“It was terrifying, honestly,: said Aitken. “The first match and against a local hero, but I just said to myself from the minute I wake up I want to enjoy absolutely everything about game day.
“I’ve sat in the wings for two years now watching all the players go about their business and I knew that when that day came for me I was just going to embrace every minute of it.”
In later matches Lee Ka Yi lost in straight games to eighth seed Rowan Elaraby while Henry Leung lost to top seed Ali Farag despite taking the first game.
Belgium’s Nele Gilis, seeded #5, was the closest of the seeds to going out as she battled back from two games down to Malaysia’s Aira Azman, saving a match ball in the fourth before squeezing home.
“I’ve actually never played Aira before,” said Coll. “I had watched her a lot so I knew what she was capable of. I didn’t take her lightly at all but it’s still different when you’re on there and as soon as I didn’t hit my targets, she was just shooting for everywhere and not missing much.
“When I found myself 2-0 down I was just, ‘I need to just find a way to win dig deep and find a way. It doesn’t matter what it looks like,’ and I’m very proud of myself.”
England’s Mohamed ElShorbagy, the four-time Hong Kong champion who would have been ninth seed, was sensationally beaten in straight games by Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann, who now meets fourth seed Diego Elias who received a walkover against the injured Mohamed ElSherbini.
Other notable wins included World Junior Champion Mohamed Zakaria over USA #1 Timmy Brownell, and Malaysia’s Siva Subramaniam who squeezed past Egypt’s Fayrouz Aboelkheir in five close games.
