16-Nov, Day Five, Round Two:
Locals bow out in Hong Kong as top
seeds - and Egyptians - progress
The top five seeds in the men's and women's draws progressed to
the quarter-finals on a day which saw all three Hong Kong
players bow out, a few upsets and a few scares.
In
the men's draw top seed Gregory Gaultier was taken to
five games by Kiwi Paul Coll, and the Frenchman now finds
himself in a section with three Egyptians.
Gaultier will face Marwan Elshorbagy for a place in the
semis with the winner to face either two time champion
Mohamed Elshorbagy, who came from a game down to beat French
qualifier Lucas Serme, or Mohamed Abouelghar who
completed an impressive straight-game victory over Simon Rosner.
The bottom half of the men's draw also features three Egyptians
- and it could have been four if Fares Dessouky hadn't injured
himself as he hurt his knee landing from a jump when he was two
games up against English qualifier Declan James.
James
now faces fourth seed Ali Farag, who also benefitted from
an injured opponent as Hong Kong's Leo Au, who last night put
out defending champion Ramy Ashour, retired early in the second
game.
Second seed Karim Abdel Gawad, who reached the final last
year, beat 2015 finalist Cameron Pilley in four games and he'll
meet Tarek Momen, who also beat an Australian opponent,
last year's semi-finalist Ryan Cuskelly.
What they Said
Women's
top seed Nour El Sherbini ended the run of Australia's
Donna Urquhart, and she faces an all-Egyptian quarter-final
against defending champion Nouran Gohar, the fourth seed
who was taken to five games by Joshna Chinappa, winning the
decider 11/1.
The other top half quarter-final will be an all-British affair,
fourth seed Laura Massaro accelerating to a four-game win
over Olivia Blatchford while Wales' Tesni Evans pulled
off a big upset with a three-nil win over eighth seed Alison
Waters.
Eleven-time
HK champion Nicol David got back on the winning track
against home favourite Annie Au - who had beaten the Malaysian
for the first time in 25 attempts in their last meeting -
although it was a nailbiting five game affair which saw David
through.
David will face another opponent who she enjoys a good record
against - France's Camille Serme, who beat Hong Kong's
Joey Chan in four games, has never beaten David and their match
will be a repeat of last year's quarter-final.
In
another repeat, Raneem El Welily and Nour El Tayeb
replayed their recent U.S. Open final, but this time it was
second seed Welily who emerged victorious at the end of a top
class five game battle.
Welily meets Joelle King - who beat her for the first
time in eleven attempts in their last match - after the Kiwi
upset sixth seed Sarah-Jane Perry in four games.
Action for the quarter-finals moves to the all-glass court in
the adjacent Hong Kong Sports Centre.
What they Said
