Marathon
start to Saudi qualifying
With 32 players vying for 16 places in the main draw of
December's Saudi PSA World Open, there was a lot on the line
at St George's Hill today, and it showed as the opening
matches were mainly marathons, throwing the schedule into
instant disarray.
In the opening matches Top seed Stéphane Galifi took
70 minutes to see off young Mexican Cesar Salazar on St
George's new all-glass court, while young Egyptian Karim
Abdel Gawad took eight minutes longer to squeeze past
Dutchman Piedro Schweertman 12/10 in the fifth.
Borja Golan continued his comeback from an extended
injury layoff with victory over Siddarth Suchde, but it took
the Spaniard 92 minutes to book his seat on the plane.
St George's own Joe Lee bucked the trend with a
relatively speedy 60m win over Gilly Lane, and France's
Julien Balbo helped the schedule with a 39-minute in
over young Malaysian Ivan Yuen.
Comparatively quick wins for Mohammed Abbas and
Kashif Shuja - 52 and 51 minutes respectively - before
Scotland's Alan Clyne found himself embroiled in
another monster match. It wasn't until Hong Kong youngster
Max Lee cramped up at 7-all in the fifth that Clyne had a
clear sight of victory, and he gratefully accepted the
chance after 84 minutes of play.
The Czech Republic's Jan Koukal made the comeback of
the day, recovering from two games and 3-8 down to deny
Dutchman Dylan Bennett.
The sixteen qualifiers now join 48 others - the top 47 in
the September rankings plus wildcard Mohammed Taher Al-Saif
- in the main draw, with today's "lucky losers" on standby
in case of any injuries before the main event gets under way
on 2nd December ...
Stéphane Galifi (Ita) bt
Cesar Salazar (Mex)
11/7, 6/11, 7/11, 11/6,
11/7 (70m)
Karim Adbel Gawad (Egy) bt Piedro Schweertman (Ned)
11/8, 10/12, 15/17, 11/5,
12/10 (78m)
Julien Balbo (Fra) bt Ivan Yuen (Mas)
11/7, 11/4, 11/9
(39m)
Borja Golan (Esp) bt Siddarth Suchde (Ind)
8/11, 11/3,
10/12, 11/1, 11/8 (92m)
Joe Lee (Eng) bt Gilly Lane (Usa)
11/1,
4/11, 11/6, 14/12 (60m)
Kashif Shuja (Nzl) bt Kristian Frost (Den)
11/5,
11/2, 3/11, 11/8 (51m)
Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Clinton Leeuw (Rsa)
8/11,
11/9, 11/9, 11/2 (52m)
Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Max Lee (Hkg)
8/11,
11/6, 12/14, 11/8, 11/7 (84m)
Adrian Waller (Eng) bt Grégoire Marche (Fra)
8/11,
11/5, 11/3, 11/1 (46m)
Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) bt Charles Sharpes (Eng)
11/2,
11/7, 11/8 (34m)
Jan Koukal (Cze) bt Dylan Bennett (Ned)
8/11,
6/11, 13/11, 11/8, 11/9 (66m)
Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Chris Gordon (Usa)
11/5,
11/3, 11/7 (35m)
Muhd Asyraf Azan (Mas) bt Arthur Gaskin (Irl)
10/12,
11/8, 11/9, 8/1 rtd (48m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Laurence Delasaux (Eng)
11/6, 14/12, 12/10 (50m)
Robbie Temple (Eng) bt Aqeel Rehman (Aut)
3/11, 11/6, 11/4, 11/7 (43m)
Steve Finitsis (Aus) bt
Arturo Salazar (Mex)
11/4, 11/3 rtd (16m)
Lucky Losers: Marche, Frost, Delasaux, Gaskin, Suchde,
Bennett |
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