23-Aug, Day
THREE, Round One (top):
Wildcard Yip takes out third seed in
Hong Kong shocker
The
first day of main draw play of the first World Series event of
the season saw just one upset result as play moved to Hong Kong
Squash Centre for the top half of the draws, but what an upset
it was a local wildcard Yip Tsz Fung beat third seeded
Colombian Miguel Rodriguez in five games to the delight of the
packed home crowd.
After
the opening two games were shared, both in extra points,
Rodriguez looked to have weathered the storm as he took the
third 11/2, but Yip responded to level the match 11/3 and kept
the momentum as he took the decider to claim his biggest win
yet.
"I played well at the start but he changed his game in the
third," said a delighted Yip. "I managed to change my game to
adapt and it worked - I'm so happy, I can't quite believe it but
it's so good to be able to do this in front of my home crowd!"
Report: Yip takes out Miguel
Yip
now faces Australian Ryan Cuskelly, who took just short
of an hour to beat qualifier Omar Abdel Meguid in three tough
games.
James Willstrop came through a tough all-English
encounter with Tom Richards to set up a meeting with Tarek
Momen, one of four Egyptian men's winners.
Karim
Abdel Gawad and Mazen Hesham will meet in an
all-Egyptian second round while top seed and defending champion
Mohamed Elshorbagy faces a repeat of last year's final
against Australian Cameron Pilley, who made sure there
was only one home winner as he beat Leo Au in three games to
finish the day's play.
"It took a couple of days, but the emotions and feeling from
last year are coming back," said Pilley, "it's feeling good!"
Report: Shorbagy does enough to hold off Simpson
There
were also four Egyptian winners in today's women's matches, led
by world number one Nour El Sherbini who beat compatriot
Heba El Torky in straight games.
Report: Hold v Power
She'll face home favourite Annie Au for a place in the
quarter-finals after Au recovered from a game down to beat HK
qualifier Liu Tsz-Ling, while there will be an all-Egyptian
second round between third seed Raneem El Welily, who
came from a game down to beat Rachael Grinham, and Nour El
Tayeb, who needed to save a match ball in her fourth game
against Australia's Donna Urquhart before progressing.
Report: Annie's accuracy is key
"I'm
so relieved," said Tayeb, who was out of action for most of last
season and recently married Ali Farag. "I really didn't want to
lose my first match as a married woman!"
The
longest match of the day was the first match on the 'upstairs'
court nine, a 94-minute all-English battle which saw
Sarah-Jane Perry lose a two-game lead over Victoria Lust
before finally clinching the win and setting up a meeting with
Amanda Sobhy, the American who ensured that Au would be
the last home player in the women's draw as she beat Joey Chan
in straight games.
"It's been a long Summer of training," said Sobhy, "so it's
really good to get back in action - I feel like a kid in a candy
shop!"

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