After a busy opening day it became one match at a time for the rest of the tournament, starting today with eight Round Two matches from the top half of the draws at Hong Kong Squash Centre.
All sixteen seeded players won yesterday, but the first seeding upset came as Youssef Ibrahim downed fifth seed Karim Abdel Gawad in an all-Egyptian encounter. In the other men’s matches Ali Farag, Diego Elias and Mazen Hesham all won through to the quarters.
Belgium’s fifth seed Nele Coll staged a comeback from two games down for the second day in a row, this time denying Malaysia’s Siva Subramaniam an upset win. Top seed Nour El Sherbini and Rowan Elaraby are set for an all-Egyptian quarter-final while Coll will meet USA’s fourth seed Olivia Weaver for a place in the last four.
Check out the reports and reaction from today’s matches below the results …
Women’s Round Two :
[1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-0 Satomi Watanabe (Jpn ) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (34m)
[8] Rowan Elaraby (Egy) 3-0 Lisa Aitken (Sco) 11-1, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
[5] Nele Coll (Bel) 3-2 Siva Subramaniam (Mas) 6-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (71m)
[4] Olivia Weaver (Usa) 3-0 Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 (30m)
Men’s Round Two :
Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 3-1 [5] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (53m)
[4] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 Dimitri Steinmann (Sui) 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 (38m)
[1] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-1 Baptiste Masotti (Fra) 11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9 (56m)
[6] Mazen Hesham (Egy) 3-1 Mohamed Zakaria (Egy) 11-4, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6 (58m)
Hesham denies WJ champ Zakaria
[6] Mazen Hesham (Egy) 3-1 Mohamed Zakaria (Egy) 11-4, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6 (58m)
In the final match of the day Mazen Hesham overcame the challenge of World Junior Champion Mohamed Zakaria in four games.
Sixth seed Hesham controlled the opening game but Zakaria fough back to lead 6-3 and 9-6 in the second before levelling in extra points.
Hesham regained control in the next two games, moving through to a quarter-final against Ali Farag.
Farag struggles through to the quarters
[1] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-1 Baptiste Masotti (Fra) 11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9 (56m)
Top seed Ali Farag was given a stern test in his bid for a first Hong Kong title by France’s Baptiste Masotti.
The world #1 controlled the opening game, but Masotti fought back strongly to level the match. Farag regained the lead in the third but the fourth was close all the way.
Farag thought he’s won it when he and the referee saw his final winning shot good, but Masotti was adament that it had hit the tin. After some discussion a let was played, with Farag taking that point to complete the win.
Clinical Weaver despatches SJ
[4] Olivia Weaver (Usa) 3-0 Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 (30m)
USA’s Olivia Weaver turned in a sparkling performance to despatch England’s Sarah-Jane Perry.
The first game was over in a flash and although Perry rallied to lead 5-4 in the second, the American was soon back in charge.
From 3-5 down in the third it was the same story as Weaver powered through to reach her first Hong Kong quarter-final.
It’s another comeback from Nele !
[5] Nele Coll (Bel) 3-2 Siva Subramaniam (Mas) 6-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (71m)
For the second day in a row Belgium’s Nele Coll came from two games down against a Malaysian opponent to win in five games !
Tonight it was Siva Subramaniam, currently world #10 compared to Gilis’ #9, who took early advantage, but once again Nele fought back to level the match, then from 0-4 in the decider took six points in a row to take charge of the match – the longest match of the tournament so far – to reach the quarter-finals.
“I wish I could tell you that’s it’s because I wanted some extra court time !
“I feel like I actually played some good squash in the first and second, I just wasn’t consistent enough and there was a dropoff every time I was getting my stuff together.
“I found myself two down but I think yesterday’s match gave me the belief that I could still win, just count on my physicality and focus on my game plan, execute it a bit better, and yeah I’m very proud of my mentality today and yesterday.
“Last time I played her I was 8-5 up in the fifth and lost, I’ve been thinking about it since then and I’m very pleased I was finally able to get my revenge for that.”
Diego despatches Dimitri
[4] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 Dimitri Steinmann (Sui) 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 (38m)
World Champion Diego Elias wasted no time in reaching the quarter-finals as he despatched Switzerland’s Dimiti Steinmann – who yeaterday ousted four-time HK Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy – in a clinical straight games victory.
First seed gone as Ibrahim downs Gawad
Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 3-1 [5] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (53m)
The first seeding upset of the tournament came as Youssef Ibrahim came from a game down to beat fifth-seeded fellow Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad.
Youssef certainly wasn’t outplayed in that opening game, things just went slightly in favour of Gawad. But in the next three games Youssef’s left-handed attacking skills came to the fore as he took the next three games, opening up a lead in the middle of each and holding on to secure the win and the quarter-final spot.
“He’s an extremely attacking player, one of my heroes growing up, him and Shabana. I watched him so many times so get to play him, it’s late in his career but every time I step on court with him it’s an honour.
“Today it was a really fast front wall, very sharp match, the pace was high and we didn’t have much rhythm, on those type of matches you have to be on point, on guard the whole match.
“Every game could have gone either way so I’m just happy that I could keep ut mentally together and get the win today.”
Rowan ends Lisa’s comeback at one win
[8] Rowan Elaraby (Egy) 3-0 Lisa Aitken (Sco) 11-1, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
The second match of the day saw eighth seed Rowan Elaraby stop the comeback of Lisa Aitken at one win as she beat the Scot in straight games to set up a clash with Nour El Sherbini.
Elaraby was totally dominant in the first, and although Aitken grew more competitive as the match went on, the Egyptian had just too much pace for the Scot – who yesterday won her first competitive match in two years.
Sherbini first through to the Quarters
[1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-0 Satomi Watanabe (Jpn) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (34m)
Top seed Nour El Sherbini was in no mood to hang around as her bid to regain the Hong Kong Open title continued. The Egyptian was dominant in the opening game, Watanabe on the receiving end of several ‘no let’ decisions which didn’t help her mood.
The Japanese #1 shrugged that off and competed strongly in the next two games, but could never get ahead of Sherbini, who won through to the quarters in just over half an hour’s play.
“We’ve met many times and she has a lot of potential. It’s tough against her, to be honest. Last year, I was almost out against her.
“I have amazing memories here and it’s always nice to be back. I think I’m feeling good this year and I’m playing better than in recent years. Fingers crossed I can win the title again.”
