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TODAY in Hong Kong:
Mon 23rd, Day One: |
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Photo Gallery
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 Let qualifying begin ...
At 12 noon 32 players gathered to see their fate determined
in the men's qualifying draw. As ever there were several
promising HK juniors thrown into the mix, along with players
ranked as highly as Tom Richards, at 31 in the world, plus
another dozen in the 32-60 range, so no-one is guaranteed an
easy passage into the main draw.
There's just eight women's matches today, the victors taking
their places in the qualifying finals against the eight seeded
players. Here local talent abounds, at least four HK girls will
progress, while Lauren Selby and Tenille Swartz were hoping
against hope for a last-minute dropout or two.
With four matches happening at once, don't expect much more than
a brief summary of events with a few photos ... it does get
easier, but not for a few days yet !
Women's Round One:
Ho Ka Po (Hkg) bt Szeto Ka Hei (Hkg)
12/10, 11/4, 11/8 (25m)
Lauren Selby (Eng) bt Ahn Eun Chan (Kor) 11/7,
11/6, 11/9 (33m)
Carmen Lee (Hkg) bt Isabella Bersani (Usa)
11/4, 11/3, 11/3 (15m)
Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg) bt Lee Ka Yi (Hkg)
11/7, 11/6, 11/8 (22m)
Tenille Swartz (Rsa) bt Uen Shan Choi (Hkg) 11/3, 11/5, 11/4
(18m)
Yu Ra Choi (Kor) bt Chu Ka Hei (Hkg) 11/6, 12/10,
9/11, 11/9 (39m)
Liu Tsz-Ling (Hkg) bt Pui Hei Chan (Hkg)
11/1, 11/7, 11/5 (21m)
Ho Tze Lok (Hkg) bt Karman Siu
(Hkg)
11/6, 11/7, 11/8 (24m)
Men's Round
One:
Tom Richards (Eng) bt Fung
Ngo Long (Hkg)
11/6, 11/0, 11/6
(21m)
Muhd Asyraf Azan (Mas) bt Choy Kit Lun (Hkg)
11/6, 11/6, 11/8
(19m)
Aaron Frankcomb (Aus) bt Anson Kwong (Hkg)
11/5, 12/10, 11/4
(37m)
Max Lee (Hkg) bt Lo Cheuk Hin (Hkg)
11/7, 11/6, 11/0
(17m)
Julian Illingworth (Usa) bt Leo Au (Hkg)
11/5, 11/8, 5/11,
11/6 (39m)
Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) bt Clinton Leeuw (Rsa)
11/4, 11/4, 12/10
(36m)
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) bt Yip Tsz Fung (Hkg)
11/4, 11/4, 11/4
(22m)
Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) bt Ho Tze Ho (Hkg)
11/5, 11/6, 11/3
(21m)
Amr Swelim (Ita) bt Kamran Khan (Mas)
13/11, 11/7, 11/9
(60m)
Steve Coppinger (Rsa) bt Harinderpal Sandhu (Ind)
11/9, 11/7, 10/12,
11/6 (48m)
Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Matthew Karwalski (Aus)
11/9, 11/7, 8/11,
9/11, 13/11 (72m)
Farhan Mehboob (Pak) bt Wong Hon Fun (Hkg)
11/2, 7/11, 11/9,
11/6 (25m)
Siddarth Suchde (Ind) bt Gilly Lane (Usa)
6/11, 11/4, 11/7,
11/8 (66m)
Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Yeung Ho Wai (Hkg)
11/4, 11/3, 11/7
(28m)
Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Tang Cheuk Yan (Hkg)
11/4, 11/4,
11/6 (19m)
Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) bt Chris Gordon (Usa)
11/7, 11/9, 7/11,
9/11, 11/3 (52m) |
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Richards in control
Malcolm Willstrop reports
England's Tom Richards, top seeded qualifier, encouraged by his
win over Daryl Selby in the Australian Open, opened proceedings
on ther Centre Court against local Fung Ngo Long.
Fung moves and hits the ball well and stood up well to five-all,
though he had to work harder than Richards to do so. From then
the Englishman managed to open the court up to win the first
comfortably 11/6.
Richards began to play more expansively, and as Fung's
resistance lessened dramatically he raced through the second
11/0 with surprising ease.
Fung, to his credit, resisted more strongly in the third and
again reached 5-all before the pressure told, Richards winning
the game and the match 11/6.
Frankcomb tested
John Massarella, paying his first visit to Hong Kong, was
central referee for the second match on centre court, where
another local, Anson Kwong, was pitted against the vastly more
experienced Australian Aaron Frankcomb.
Like his fellow countryman Fung, Kwong both moves and hits the
ball well, but he was soon 7/2 down and Frankcomb won the first
with some comfort 11/5.
 Kwong
managed 4/2 and 6/4 leads in the second, but, aided by unforced
errors, Frankcomb took the lead at 7/6. Two strokes took Kwong
to 8/7, another to 9/8, and at 10/8 he served for the game.
Not to be though, on the first game ball Kwong threw himself
desperately into the back corner in an attempt to retrieve the
ball, and on the second he slipped in that same corner and it
was extra points and the Australian took it at his first
attempt, 12/10.
Frankcomb led throughout the third and won it 11/4, and will
have another Hong Kong opponent in tomorrow's qualifying finals,
Max Lee. |
Au stretches Illingworth
The third Hong Kong player to take to the Centre Court was Leo
Au, brother of Annie and currently combining squash with
studying at Hong Kong University, up against American #1 Julian
Illingworth.
Illingworth is a tough opponent and although Au had his moments
in the first, Illingworth was always controlling matters and
took the game 11/5.
Au though, aided by some skilfully-executed backhand drops, led
6/2 in the second but played less determinedly from there, maybe
feeling the pace, and Illingworth led 7/6 and, after an
exceptional rally at 9/8 took the second 11/8 will a delicate
forehand drop.
Au continued to battle and with the dropshot proving an
effective weapon, he broke away from five-all in the third to
win it convincingly, 11/5.
Au continued to resist, and a ridiculous stroke took it to 4-all
in the fourth. Illingworth soon led 9/6 though, served for the
match at 10/6 and took it at the first attempt.
Au can feel pleased with his effort, since playing squash at
this level and studying academically is a fruitless task.
Coppinger too strong
The Steve Coppinger v Harinderpal Sandhu clash was one of the more appetising
first round matches. Coppinger, skilful and working the ball
well, won a hard-fought first game 11/9 and he soon led 6/2 in
the second. Sandhu stayed in contention and won a long rally to
reach 7/9, but Coppinger's early lead had sttod him in good
stead and he took the game 11/7, the Indian having it all to do
from two down.
Sandhu's pace kept him in the third to five-all and then
seven-all. A delayed backhand crosscourt saw the Indian to 8/7
but a forehand volley error and a winner from Coppingertook the
South African to 9/8. Sandhu served at 10/9 - his pace earned
him a let and then came the tiebreak as Coppinger put a forehand
volley away. But it was Sandhu who took the extra points to put
himself back in contention.
However no sooner had he fought his way back than he found
himself quickly 5-0 downin the fourth, showing insufficient
resistance. 5-0 became 10-2 as Coppinger's shot making
controlled matters. Sandhu recovered to 6-10 before Coppinger
edgily got home after six attempts. |
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Clyne fights off
Karwalski comeback
Steve reports
As soon as the draw was made you wouldn't have found many
willing to bet against Alan Clyne v Matthew Karwalski being the
longest match of the day - both young, fit, fast and determined,
it had all the makings of a marathon, and so it proved.
The Scotsman went two up, the Australian levelled, but in truth
all the games were close, and any sequence of scores to get them
through to a decider would have been eminently possible.
I arrived upstairs as Karwalski won a lung-busting rally to go
8-3 up, accompanied by a loud "C'mon". All over, you'd have
thought, but this Scot is made of granite, and he clawed his way
back to 8-all, getting the better of a series of gruelling
rallies.
A Clyne volley went out - "NO, too easy", Karwalski worked a
poition well to put in a drop and it was match balls to the
Aussie. A counter-drop into the nick and a stroke levelled it
again, then Clyne played an uncharacteristic long drop to reach
11/10. That was saved with a drop that was just too tight, but
another stroke gave Clyne a second match ball, and an
uncharacteristic boast into the tin spelt the end for Karwalski.
Was it the longest of the day? Oh yes, 72 minutes' worth.
 "I
was hoping to win it 3/0, I was 8/6 up in the third, but then I
was 8/3 down in the fifth! It was a bit of a yoyo match, all the
games were close, it was a question of trying to knuckle down at
the important moments.
"He stepped up the pace in the third and fourth, putting me
under more pressure, and in the fifth I was having to go to last
resort tactics, just picking everything up ..."
 Another
fightback that failed was that of Chris Gordon, who fell
two behind to second seed Omar Abdel Aziz. The American
managed to draw level, only to lose out in the decider. For his
part Chris rued wasting all that effort by playing badly in the
fifth, while Omar found the floor slippy, managed to win two
games by playing winners, and fortunately got a good start in
the fifth.
The second longest match of the day saw Siddarth Suchde
produce the only men's upset, the lanky Indian recovering from
losing the first game to beat Gilly Lane in four games, a
carbon copy of his win over the American in the Malaysian Open.
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Selby survives
Of the eight women's matches today, Lauren Selby's clash
with Korean Ahn Eun Chan looked to be the trickiest of the
bunch, and so it proved as the Englishwoman battled for 33
minutes to see off a capable and determined opponent.
"I always seem to get the toughest draw in the qualifiers," she
said afterwards, "but in a way I prefer it that way, at least
you get a good match or two and have to do a bit of work to set
you up if you do get through to the main draw."
There was better news for Korea as Yu Ra Choi beat local Chu Ka Hei
in a tough four games, and she looked mighty relieved at the
end.
Elsewhere there was good progress for Hong Kong's up and coming
junior and just-out-of-junior group, with wins for Ho Ka Po,
Carmen Lee, Tong Tsz-Wing, Liu Tsz-Ling and Ho Tze Lok
although Uen Shan Choi found South Adrica's Tenille Swartz
too much of a handful.
A new name was American Isabella Bersani, who lost out to HK
junior team member Carmen Lee, but we were curious as to where
she appeared from ...
 "This
is my first tournament ever, it's a big one to start with!
"My parents are American but I've been here in Hong Kong for
pretty much all my sixteen years. I've been training hard but
took a summer break just before this event, which probably
wasn't the best timing.
"I was really nervous when I went on, although I'd played Carmen
before which helped me settle down a bit.
"I'll play a few of the satellite tournaments that are coming up
in HK, the Crocodile and the Buler, and hopefully that will help
me to get the right mentality - I know I've got the shots, it's
just learning how to apply them properly in pressure
situations."
Today's winner face the top
eight seeds in the qualifying finals, so further wins will be
upsets ... |
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