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 21-Nov,
FINAL:
Ashour Takes Athens Title
In PSA Tour Debut
 Three
months after making history by becoming the youngest player to win the
world junior title, Egyptian Ramy Ashour has registered a further
notable achievement by claiming the title in his first appearance on the
PSA Tour in Greece.
Aged just sixteen and seeded only to reach the quarter-finals, Ashour
secured the World Junior (U19) Championship crown in Pakistan in August
after beating a series of older and more experienced opponents.
After despatching the third, eighth and sixth seeds in quick succession
in the Fischer Athens Open, Ashour faced England's fourth seed
Andrew Whipp for the ultimate glory in the Greek capital.
The now 17-year-old from Cairo survived the first two games in
tie-breaks, but the experienced Whipp, aged 23, fought back to take the
next two and force the match into a fifth game decider.
Sticking courageously to the task, undaunted Ashour went on to win the
final game, however, and claim a sensational 11-10 (3-1), 11-10 (2-0),
7-11, 7-11, 11-9 victory in 75 minutes.
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Fisher Athens Open 2004 |
Round One
Nov 17 |
Quarters
Nov 18 |
Semis
Nov 19 |
Final
Nov 20 |
[1]
Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND)
Shahid Khan (ENG)
11-4, 11-10(3-1), 11-3 (35m) |
Ritwik Bhattacharya
11-8, 11-4, 11-8 (32m)
David Barnett |
Ritwik Bhattacharya
11-3, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 (52m)
Andrew Whipp |
Andrew Whipp
11-10 (3-1), 11-10
(2-0), 7-11, 7-11, 11-9
Ramy Ashour |
David
Barnett (ENG)
[5] Timothy Arnold (MAS)
11-10(2-0), 8-11, 5-11, 11-10(2-0), 11-9 (75m) |
[4]
Andrew Whipp (ENG)
Amr Ramzy Swelim (EGY)
11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 11-10(2-0) (38m) |
Andrew Whipp
11-2, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6 (42m)
Tony James |
[7]
Tony James (AUS)
Alexandre Muller (FRA)
5-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 11-10(2-0) (55m) |
[8]
Stefan Leifels (GER)
Fabian Kalaitzis (GRE)
11-9, 11-7, 2-11, 11-10(2-0) (43m) |
Stefan Leifels
11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (26m)
Ramy Ashour |
Ramy Ashour
11-5, 5-11, 11-3, 11-5 (50m)
Julien Balbo |
Ramy
Ashour (EGY)
[3] Mikkel Korsbjerg (DEN)
11-7, 11-6, 11-1 (32m) |
[6]
Julien Balbo (FRA)
Friedrich Scheel (GER)
11-3, 11-4, 11-4 (30m) |
Julien Balbo
11-8, 11-9, 11-8
(46m)
Christian Drakenberg |
[2]
Christian Drakenberg (SWE)
Petros Tzamaloukas (GRE)
11-5, 11-0, 11-5(25m) |
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20-Nov,
Semis:
Andrew & Ashour In Athens Final
Upsets continued to characterise the Fischer Athens Open as unseeded
Egyptian Ramy Ashour and England's Andrew Whipp defeated higher-seeded
opponents to reach the final in the Greek capital.
Ashour, the 17-year-old from Cairo who stunned the squash world in
August by becoming the youngest ever winner of the world junior title,
claimed his third successive upset in his first appearance in a PSA Tour
event when he beat sixth-seeded Frenchman Julien Balbo 11-5 5-11 11-3
11-5 in 50 minutes.
Andrew Whipp, the fourth seed from Stockport in Cheshire, took his
unexpected place in the final after overcoming India's Ritwik
Bhattacharya, the top seed, 11-3 5-11 11-9 11-7 in 52 minutes.
19-Nov,
Quarters:
Ashour Marches On In Athens
Egypt's 17-year-old world junior champion
Ramy Ashour continued
to show his potential on the senior world stage by marching through to
the semi-finals of the Fischer Athens Open in the Greek capital.
On the first day of his debut on the PSA Tour, Ashour upset third-seeded
Dane Mikkel Korsbjerg in straight games to book a place in the
quarter-finals. He then claimed his second seed scalp in the event when
he despatched Germany's 8th seed Stefan Leifels 11-6 11-4 11-3 in just
26 minutes.
His opponent in the semi-finals will be France's Julien Balbo,
the sixth seed who also pulled off a significant upset by defeating
Sweden's No2 seed Christian Drakenberg 11-8 11-9 11-8.
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