Fri 16th, Day THREE:
Qualifying complete, it's time
for the men to make their debuts on the new glass court in Grand
Central as Men's Round One gets under way. Meanwhile at
the Yale Club it's the first of three Women's Qualifying
rounds.
Men's Round One, top half
Cameron Pilley (Aus) 3-1 Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy)
12/10, 11/13, 11/8, 12/10 (79m)
Chris Simpson (Eng) 3-2 [Q] Cesar Salazar (Mex)
11/5, 8/11, 10/12, 13/11, 11/6 (99m)
Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 3-0 [Q] Alan Clyne (Sco)
11/7, 11/5, 12/10 (49m)
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 3-1 [Q] Campbell Grayson (Nzl)
9/11, 11/3, 11/4, 11/9 (53m)
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-0 [wc] Todd Harrity (Usa)
11/6, 11/7, 11/8 (37m)
[7] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 Adrian Waller (Eng)
11/5, 11/7, 14/12 (42m)
[4] Amr Shabana (Egy) 3-0 Olli Tuominen (Fin)
11/7, 11/4, 11/3 (31m)
[6] Borja Golan (Esp) 3-2 [Q] Ong Beng Hee (Mas)
12/14, 9/11, 11/6, 11/5, 11/8 (76m)
Women's Qualifying Round One: (winners to face seeds in R2)
Mariam Metwally (Egy) 3-0 Sina Wall (Ger)
11-1, 12-10, 11-7
Victoria Lust (Eng) 3-0 Reeham Sedky (Usa)
12-10, 11-3 11-3
Heba El Torky (Egy) 3-0 Nikki Todd (Can)
11-9, 11-5, 12-10
Kanzy ElDefrawy (Egy)3-1 Donna Urquhart (Aus)
6-11,11-8,11-3,11-7
Laura Pomportes (Fra) 3-1 Latasha Khan (Usa)11-7, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9
Sabrina Sobhy (Usa) 3-1 Olivia Fiechter (Usa) 8-11, 11-8,
11-7, 11-4
Samantha Teran (Mex) 3-0 Cecilia Cortes (Usa)
11-6, 11-4, 11-9
Hollie Naughton (Can) 3-2
Olivia Blatchford (Usa) 8-11,11-6,6-11,11-6,11-7
PSA Roundup:
Defending Champion Shabana
steams through in Grand Central
2014 champion Amr Shabana began the defence of his J.P.
Morgan Tournament of Champions title in New York's stunning Grand
Central Terminal today with an impressive 3-0 win over Finland's
Olli Tuominen.
Shabana was in sublime form as he dispatched his fellow 35-year-old
11-7, 11-4, 11-3 to move into the second round and set up an
encounter with Cameron Pilley after the powerful Australian pulled
off a 3-1 victory over Karim Abdel Gawad.
Shabana became the oldest ever winner of a PSA World Series event
when he clinched the 2014 title with victory over French World No.2
Gregory Gaultier and he'll be aiming to build on his own record in
2015 as he bids to win PSA World Tour title number 50.
"I'm feeling very good about the match today because you never
really know how you're going to get on until you actually get on
court," said Shabana.
"Olli is a fighter and he never gives you any points so I had to be
focused today and I'm very happy to get the win.
"I went on holiday with my family over the Christmas break before
getting back into training and I feel like it's starting to pay off.
At my age you can't really step up training or anything ahead of
events - it's all about putting in the effort and the hard work and
I've been working hard every day to get my mind sharp and be ready
for battle.
"Squash is a very tough sport and it's not the kind of sport
where you can cruise along. You have to enjoy it and you have to be
in there 100 per cent especially against the players these days so
I'm just happy to be in the mix."
Earlier in the day World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy got off to a
winning start in 2015, opening his campaign with a 3-0 victory over
American wildcard Todd Harrity, in a repeat of their 2014 encounter,
ending all hopes of home success in the process.
Harrity was the only US representative in the main draw and despite
putting in a valiant performance against the Egyptian, in which he
forced Elshorbagy to work hard to earn every point, he couldn't find
enough in his locker to cause an upset and eventually fell to an
11-6, 11-7, 11-8 defeat.
Elshorbagy went 23-matches unbeaten in 2014, a run that saw him win
four consecutive tournaments including the US Open and Hong Kong
Open, before falling to Ramy Ashour during the final of the 2014
World Championships and he'll be keen to resume winning ways in the
'Big Apple' and will now face Swiss national champion Nicolas
Mueller in the second round.
“I’m very happy to be back in New York and Todd has definitely
improved since we played here last year,” said Elshorbagy.
“This is one of the best events we play on tour and the atmosphere
is always fantastic so I’m looking forward to being on court again
in a few days.”
Elsewhere there were wins for Chris Simpson - who needed to
save three match balls in the fourth before beating qualifier Cesar
Salazar in five, Tarek Momen and Saurav Ghosal while
Spaniard Borja Golan survived a huge scare against qualifier
Ong Beng Hee, coming from two-games down against the Malaysian to
win 3-2 and move into the second round, which gets underway on
Sunday.
Quick "as it happened" reports from
the afternoon matches
|
Shorbagy at the opening ceremony
Happy NY birthday to
Heba El Torky
Camille Serme
wakes up to NY
Miguel Rodriguez
at Grand Central
 |
