13-Nov, Day TWO:
More top seeds fall in
Qualifying Finals at HKFC

Sixteen places in the World Series main draws were up for grabs today with sixteen qualifying finals on four courts this afternoon at Hong Kong Football Club.

The men's matches started with a big upset as Germany's Raphael Kandra beat top seeded Swiss Nicolas Mueller in four games, and ended with another as Scotland's Greg Lobban beat second seeded home favourite Yip Tsz Fung, also in four games.

Third seed Nafiizwan Adnan survived a scare as he edged past Finnish veteran Olli Tuominen 12-10 in the fifth, while English trio Tom Richards, Declan James and Adrian Waller also made it through.

Lucas Serme ended the run of Spain's Iker Pajares to join big sister Camille in the main draw, while in form Indian Harinderpal Sandhu qualified with second seeding upset as he beat Youssef Soliman in straight games.

Only one of the top four seeds in the main draw face a qualifier, and if Tom Richards got lucky today as his opponent Mohamed Reda retired injured before the match, he drew the short straw (he pulled it out himself!) and now faces the in-form Ali Farag.

The women's top two qualifying seeds had already been beaten yesterday, but Lee Ka Yi and Vanessa Chu couldn't repeat those upsets as they lost out to Rachael Arnold - who saved two match balls in the fifth - and Tong Tsz Wing, who became the only Hong Kong player to qualify out of the 25 starters.

Another big upset saw Danielle Letourneau beat third seed Jenny Duncalf in straight games, and she's joined in the main draw by fellow Canadian Hollie Naughton who needed five game to see off the challenge of Haley Mendez.

Milou van der Heijden won a second successive five-setter as she came from one-two down to beat Misaki Kobayashi, and the eight qualifiers are rounded off by the Egyptian trio of Hania El Hammamy, Nada Abbas and Nadine Shahin.

In the main draw, Tong got the one she didn't want in compatriot Annie Au, Letourneau faces ten-time champion Nicol David, Abbas meets top seeded compatriot Nour El Sherbini and Hammamy faces Laura Massaro in a repeat of their first round nailbiter of last year.

12-Nov, Day ONE:
Hong Kong's Lee and Chu take out women's top seeds as Sandhu and Pajares impress in the men's ...

Qualifying for the 2017 Hong Kong Squash Open, the third PSA World Series event of the season, began at Hong Kong Football Club with 32 round one Men's and Women's matches.

The day started with a big upset in the women's draw as top qualifying seed Nele Gilis was beaten in five games by an inspired performance from Hong Kong's Lee Ka Yi, prompting HK National Coach Chris Robertson, who had 24 players under his watch today, to simply comment "Wow!".

The rest of the matches went to seeding with just one more home winner - although teenager Chan Sin Yuk stretched USA's Haley Mendez to five games - until the last match of the day when second seeded Egyptian Mayar Hany was also beaten by a home player, Vanessa Chu coming through in four games.

In the men's draw just one local - out of twelve starters - progressed, second seeded Tsz Fung Yip beating compatriot Henry Leung to advance his hopes of progress in a tournament he's excelled in in recent years.

Here too there were two big upsets, as India's Harinderpal Sandhu took a , as 30-minute first game before finishing off fourth-seeded Egyptian Karim Ali Fathi in straight games, and Spain's Iker Pajares took out fifth seeded Englishman Chris Simpson in four games and 80 minutes, having had match ball for a straight games win.

There were some notable marathons as Egyptian youngster Youssef Soliman and Finnish veteran Olli Tuominen both won in five games lasting over 70 minutes.