The GillenMarkets British Open continued today in Birmingham with the remaining Round One matches at Solihull Arden and eight Round Two matches at The Rep Theatre.
Top seeds Nouran Gohar and Mostafa Asal got their campaigns under way at the Rep, and neither had it all their own way against English Opponents Jasmine Hutton and Jonah Bryant – Gohar edging through in four games while Asal was twice a game down before advancing to Round Three.
Youssef Ibrahim downed seventh seed Karin Abdel Gawad at the Rep, while at Solihull Arden the round two matchups were finalised.
Check out the reports and reaction below today’s results …
Round One at Solihull Arden :
Women’s :
Zeina Mickawy (Egy) 3-2 Aifa Azman (Mas) 12-10, 13-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7 (51m)
[LL] Haya Ali (Egy) 3-1 Salma Eltayeb (Egy) 10-12, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (33m)
Malak Khafagy (Egy) 3-2 Lucy Beecroft (Eng ) 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 1-11, 12-10 (54m)
Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 3-0 [Q] Ainaa Amani (Mas) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 (26m)
Hana Ramadan (Egy) 3-0 [wc] Alicia Mead (Eng) 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
Tesni Murphy (Wal) 3-1 Grace Gear (Eng) 10-12, 11-3, 11-9, 11-7 (45m)
Hana Moataz (Egy) 3-2 Nour Aboulmakarim (Egy) 13-11, 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-9 (61m)
Men’s :
George Parker (Eng) 3-0 Abdulla Al-Tamimi (Qat) 11-6, 11-3, 11-2 (25m)
Abhay Singh (Ind) 3-1 Timothy Brownell (Usa) 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, 11-4 (50m)
Alex Lau (Hkg) 3-1 [Q] Dewald van Niekerk (Rsa) 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (43m)
[Q] Moustafa Elsirty (Egy) 3-1 Declan James (Eng) 9-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-9 (55m)
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 3-2 Omar Mosaad (Egy) 11-5, 5-11, 11-3, 10-12, 11-6 (61m)
Juan Camilo Vargas (Col) 3-0 Henry Leung (Hkg) 11-6, 12-10, 11-3 (40m)
Iker Pajares (Esp) 3-2 Nick Wall (Eng) 5-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7 (63m)
Curtis Malik (Eng) 3-1 [Q] Noor Zaman (Pak) 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 11-2 (45m)
Round Two at The Rep :
[wc] Saran Nghiem (Eng) 3-0 [LL] Nicole Bunyan (Can) 11-9, 11-2, 14-12 (38m)
[4] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-0 Simon Herbert (Eng) 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 (35m)
[1] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-1 [9/16] Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 13-11 (50m)
[9/16] Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 3-2 [7] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4 (56m)
[5] Tinne Gilis (Bel) 3-1 [Q] Kenzy Ayman (Egy) 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7 (41m)
[1] Mostafa Asal (Egy) 3-2 Jonah Bryant (Eng) 10-12, 11-6, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5 (75m)
[4] Amina Orfi (Egy) 3-0 Georgia Adderley (Sco) 11-3, 11-4, 12-10 (47m)
[9/16] Victor Crouin (Fra) 3-0 [8] Eain Yow Ng (Mas) 13-11, 11-5, 11-7 (58m)
Afternoon Roundup : Ibrahim downs Gawad as Brits advance
Youssef Ibrahim took downed seventh Karim Abdel Gawad, while England’s George Parker, Saran Nghiem and Sarah-Jane Perry and Birmingham-based Welshman Joel Makin led the charge for home fans in the first session on day two of the main draw.
Despite his lower ranking of World No.13, Ibrahim went into the match with a favourable 4-1 record against Gawad. Gawad appeared to be putting that record right when the former World No.1 took the opening game 11-8, only for a much improved Ibrahim to fire back 11-5, 11-7.
Gawad found his footing again in game four to draw level with another 11-8, but looked to tire in game five, with Ibrahim taking full advantage with an 11-4 victory.
“It’s not the best match we’ve played!” Ibrahim admitted afterwards. It was very short and sharp and when you’re playing someone like Karim who has those racket skills, you have to be on your toes. I couldn’t even serve, because he hits back every time!”
In a one-sided contest, World No.50 Parker dumped Qatari World No.24 Abdulla Al-Tamimi out of the competition with a 25 minute victory in straight games to set up a clash with England No.2 Marwan ElShorbagy.
Al-Tamimi, who appeared to be carrying an injury, quickly wilted under consistent pressure from the Englishman, who expanded the court at every opportunity.
After the match, Parker – who has had issues with on-court anger in the past – spoke candidly about what’s changed for him.
“I’ve played him in Qatar and he’s absolutely battered me. He’s a very talented player, very quick and got a lot of skill but I don’t really care about the person I’m playing anymore as I’ve got different goals
“I want to turn up and try my hardest, behave well and focus on myself and not get distracted. I’d rather play well and beat good players, but you can’t always guarantee that and I was happy with the way I dealt with it today.
“Sometimes your squash isn’t good enough or your movement is slightly off, but it’s just being more internal on court.
“The club is only 50 minutes down the road from me and everything is a free shot for me at the moment, especially when you’re 50 in the World and you’re sneaking these events!”
Joining Parker in the next round are two more of his compatriots. Tournament wildcard Nghiem, aged 21 and playing her first British Open, followed up an impressive win yesterday with a dominant 3-0 over Canada’s Nicole Bunyan.
Former World No.5 Perry, meanwhile, playing her 13th and final British Open after announcing she would retire after this event, recorded a win in straight games over Malaysian qualifier Ainaa Amani.
“It feels amazing. I’m so grateful for England Squash to be giving me the wildcard and I really wanted to make the most out of my opportunity today. I’m really loving it on court and it’s the last one of the season, so I’m really happy to be playing well,” Nghiem said.
“I’m really grateful for all the support since I was a kid.
“I was a bit disappointed to not get the chance to play on the glass court yesterday in case things hadn’t gone my way, but I was really happy with the win to get the opportunity to play in front of this amazing home crowd. I couldn’t be happier!”
Elsewhere, defending champion Gohar was severely tested by Jasmine Hutton in an entertaining clash.
After going 0-2 down to the Egyptian, Hutton, ranked 17 spots below Gohar in the PSA World Rankings, began to take the game to the two-time champion, and was rewarded with an 11-7 win to pull a game back.
The 26-year-old had opportunities to draw level, earning game ball to the roar of the home crowd.
The Englishwoman, however, could not convert, with Gohar hanging tough to claim the game 13-11 and take the match 3-1.
Evening Roundup :
In the evening session, World No.1 and defending champion Mostafa Asal came from behind to defeat 19-year-old Englishman Jonah Bryant.
The Egyptian was one of four players to record five-game wins, with Hana Moataz, Iker Pajares and Nicolas Mueller fighting through five game battles to proceed.
Elsewhere, France’s Victor Crouin impressed to defeat No.8 seed Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia and home talents Tesni Murphy of Wales and Curtis Malik of England impressed in wins over Grace Gear and U23 World Champion Noor Zaman to progress.
Ahead of the match, Bryant had spoke of his intention not to show the defending British Open champion and newly-crowned World Champion too much respect on court, planning instead to take the game to the Egyptian.
After weathering a quick start from Asal, who earlier this week won his seventh title of the season at the Palm Hills Open, World No.30 Bryant began to find his feet.
The 19-year-old was accurate to the back and brave on the attack, applying mounting pressure on the World No.1, whose line hitting began to falter.
After seeing a game ball saved, Bryant earned rapturous applause from the crowd by clinching game one on a tie break, 12-10.
Asal responded by playing a lower risk brand of squash, pummelling the ball to the back to stretch to court before unleashing some devastating attacks to the front to level 11-6.
Bryant, however, recovered spectacularly, dominating the third game 11-3.
The crowd sensed an historic upset was potentially on the cards when Bryant, with the momentum firmly behind him, took a 9-8 lead in game four to move within two points of victory.
Asal, however, managed to cling on, breaking home hearts with an 11-9 win and then securing victory with an 11-5 win in game five.
Afterwards, Asal heaped praise upon his young opponent: “Full credit to Jonah, what an amazing player! He’s coming up the rankings so quickly and reminds me of myself when I was young.
“It’s amazing to be honest, the future for sure is bright for him. He almost got me today!
“I managed to sneak it out, I think I was a bit lucky!”
Another player to come from behind was Spain’s Pajares. The World No.31 looked in real danger of an early exit to World No.41 Nick Wall when the Englishman took a 2-1 lead and led 7-4 in game four.
Pajares, though, managed to wrestle back momentum, bailing himself out by taking seven unanswered points to draw level before completing the comeback with another 11-7 win.
Moataz and Mueller, meanwhile, were able to stave off comebacks from their opponents, with Moataz winning an all-Egyptian encounter with Nour Aboulmakarim and Swiss No.2 Mueller getting the better of Egypt’s Omar Mosaad.
In the final match of the day, Eain Yow Ng became the second seed to crash out today as he fell to an impressive Victor Crouin performance.
Crouin, who had previously never beaten Ng, was on top throughout the encounter, recording a 13-11, 11-5, 11-7 victory to reach the last 16.
Round Two of the GillenMarkets British Open concludes tomorrow, 2 June, at Birmingham’s Rep Theatre and Solihull Arden Squash Club.
