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TODAY: Daily
reports from Manchester ... |
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Sat 11th, Qualifying Round One:
Dylan Bennett (Ned)
bt Morgan Hibbard (Eng)
11/6, 11/7, 11/6 (34m)
Joel Hinds (Eng) bt Bradley Hindle (Aus)
11/5, 11/8, 12/10 (38m)
Ben Ford (Eng) bt Ky Hibbard (Eng)
11/6, 11/1, 11/6 (25m)
Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) bt Tom Dwyer (Eng)
11/2, 11/6, 11/9 (32m)
Ali Anwar Reda (Egy) bt Peter Billson (Eng)
11/2, 11/8, 11/7 (28m)
Yann Perrin (Fra) bt Wade Johnstone (Aus)
11/6, 11/3, 12/10 (40m)
Joe Lee (Eng) bt John Rooney (Irl)
7/11, 20/18, 5/11, 11/6, 11/6 (69m)
Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt Issa Kamara (Sli)
11/5, 11/7, 11/9 (19m)
Jorge Ferreira (Mex) bt Rob Sutherland 9/11, 12/10, 11/9,
5/11, 11/3 (63m)
Siddarth Suchde (Ind) bt Martin Knight (Nzl)
11/7, 11/7, 11/2 (64m)
Adil Maqbool (Pak) bt Matthew Karwalski
(Aus) 13/11,
11/5, 11/7 (31m)
David Phillips (Can) bt Arthur Gaskin (Irl)
12/10, 11/6, 11/6 (45m)
Simon Rosner (Ger) bt Chris Truswell (Eng)
11/8, 11/5, 11/6 (29m)
Badr Abdel Aziz bt Luca
Mastrostefano 15/13, 11/7, 10/12, 7/11, 11/1 (60m)
Steve Coppinger (Rsa) bt Tom Pashley (Eng)
11/2, 11/6, 11/5 (30m)
Scott Arnold (Aus) bt Alex Stait (Eng)
11/9, 11/13, 14/12, 11/4 (62m)
Steve Finitsis (Aus) bt Jaymie Haycocks (Eng)
11/8, 11/3, 11/4 (31m)
Arturo Salazar (Mex) bt Clinton Leeuw (Rsa)
11/9, 12/10, 11/6 (45m)
Robbie Temple (Eng) bt Phil Nightingale
10/12, 9/11, 11/8, 11/6, 11/6 (69m)
Jesse Engelbrecht (Rsa) bt Waqar Mehboob 9/11, 11/4, 6/11, 11/4,
11/8 (55m)
Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Rasmus Nielsen (Den) 9/11,
11/7, 11/7, 11/2 (51m)
Amr Mansi (Egy) bt James Snell (Eng)
12/10, 11/6, 11/7 (40m)
Shahid Zaman (Pak) bt Darren Lewis (Eng)
9/11, 11/8, 11/6, 11/9 (43m)
Liam Kenny (Irl) bt Nafahizam Adnan (Mas)
11/5, 11/1, 11/7 (33m)
Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) bt Lewis Walters (Eng)
11/6, 11/9, 11/2 (30m)
Campbell Grayson (Nzl) bt Morten Sorensen (Den)
11/9, 11/2, 11/2 (31m)
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) bt Jon Harford (Eng)
10/12, 11/3, 11/5, 11/3 (38m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Andrew McDougall (Can)
11/5, 11/5, 11/4 (41m)
Andy Whipp (Eng) bt Chris Gordon (Usa)
6/11, 11/8, 12/10, 11/5 (55m)
Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Cesar Salazar (Mex)
11/8, 12/10, 12/10 (62m)
Gilly Lane (Usa) bt Shaun Le Roux (Eng)
w/o injured ankle
Mark Krajcsak (Hun) bt Colin Ramasra (Tri)
11/4, 11/4, 11/5 (30m)
Qualifying finals from 12.00 on Sunday
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Jethro still out
But joy for Joel...
and Whippy |
Sat 11th, Day
ONE:
Full house for the men's draw
It's not often you get a
64-man main draw, and here in Manchester we have a 64-man
qualifying draw too, with sixteen placed in the first round up
for grabs.
What's also quite unusual is that all 64 showed up - the stands
looked fuller than for the final stages of some tournaments! -
so there are no byes (top seed Dylan Bennett was counting on at
least one no-show) and 32 matches to get through from noon
today.
Don't expect too much in the way of in-depth coverage today,
results and a few snippets is the aim ...
Joel, Joe & Whippy
cause English upsets
The first session of play saw two English youngsters, both
playing their first World Opens, cause stunning upsets. Joel
Hinds, who only found out he was playing yesterday, overcame
the experienced Australian Bradley Hindle - ranked over 200
places higher - in straight games, while Joe Lee survived
a marathon encounter with Ireland's John Rooney, coming from 2/1
down to win the longest match of the session.
Three Manchester youngsters were all making their debuts in a
major senior event, and Tom Dwyer, Morgan and Ky Hibbard
were all, disappointingly for their fans and their mentor Vicky
Botwright, drawn to go on court in the first batch of matches.
They all lost, but it was a great experience for them -
True Locals
The evening session went mainly to seedings, but Swiss star
Nicolas Mueller overcame 9/16 seed Jon Harford to progress
in his first world Open.
The final match of the night produced the fianl upset, and the
one the Manchester fans had waited to see - local hero Andy
Whipp, who is no longer playing on the circuit, came from a
game down to beat Chris Gordon, a 17/32 seed.
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Joe Lee (Eng) bt John Rooney (Irl)
7/11, 20/18, 5/11, 11/6, 11/6 (69m)
 "I'm
pleased with how I kept my concentration, apart from the third
game, but I was happy to get it back after that.
"That second game proved crucial - he was 10/8, then played a
silly shot when I was 11/10, and he had more game balls as it
went on. It was important to win that one, it was a whole extra
game really.
I haven't been getting such good results recently, but it's a
great feeling to win my first ever match in the World Open, a
good win and I'm really pleased.
"I've played Shorbagy twice before, and lost both times 3/0, but
I learned a lot from those matches so I'll be taking those
lessons onto court with me tomorrow ..."
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Joel Hinds (Eng) bt Bradley Hindle
(Aus) 11/5, 11/8, 12/10 (38m)
 "I
was meant to be playing a tournament in Coventry this weekend
but got a call at two o' clock yesterday so obviously I had to
come here. I was just turning up top see how I played, with no
expectations, so it's a big bonus to win, especially in three.
 "I
played Bradley in a Dutch league game last year, I lost that one
from two up, so when he was 10/8 in the third I was getting a
bit nervous.
"It's only the second big tournament I've played in, after the
British Open here a couple of years ago, so I'm really pleased
to win.
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Adil Maqbool (Pak) bt Matthew
Karwalski (Aus) 13/11, 11/5, 11/7 (31m)
"I was struggling
in Wolverhampton, it was hard fasting during Ramadan and keeping
up the training, but I've had two weeks now and I'm feeling much
better.
"It was tough getting used to the court, my legs weren't moving
too well at the start but by the end I felt pretty good.
"It's pretty exciting to play in your first World Open, it's
good to get a win and I hope I can make it through the next
round …"
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Scott Arnold (Aus) bt Alex Stait
(Eng)
11/9, 11/13, 14/12, 11/4 (62m)
 "That
was a tough one! The first was even all the way, I just got away
at the end. I didn't switch off, but he came out aggressive in
the second and got to 10/4 very quickly. I tried to slow it down
and hit the back corners again, got back to 10-all but he played
the big points at the end very well.
"The third was similar, he got to 9/4 but when I got back again
I could see he was starting to struggle. That was the big game,
he had a lot of support as he's based here and if he'd gone 2/1
up it would have been very difficult.
"I got a good start in the fourth and felt pretty good at the
end. It's my second World Open, I didn't qualify last time so
hopefully I can make the main draw this time …"
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Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe) bt Luca
Mastrostefano (Ita)
15/13, 11/7, 10/12, 7/11, 11/1 (60m)
 "When
I was 10/7 up in the third I started thinking about the future,
and you just can't do that at any time, especially not in a
world open!
"I just relaxed and lost everything, I was somewhere else,
already thinking about tomorrow.
"It took me until the fifth to be able to regain my focus,
thankfully I was able to do that because I could easily have
lost that match.
"I lost to Simon two weeks ago in the European Clubs, so
hopefully I can play better tomorrow …"
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Robbie Temple (Eng) bt Phil
Nightingale (Eng)
10/12, 9/11, 11/8, 11/6,
11/6 (69m)
 "I
had leads in the first two games, I came out playing well, I
felt positive, but he came back to take the first and that
worried me a little. The second was the same again as I made
some errors but he was volleying everything really well.
"At 8/1 down in the third I just kept telling myself 'you will
win, you will win this match'. I knew I could, even from that
position, but I knew I would have to change my game drastically.
"He maybe went a bit negative, and I just started playing safe,
basic squash, not going for anything. It's satisfying to know
that you can work out a win like that when you're not playing at
your best. Phil played well though, and he deserved to win on
squash alone …"
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Jesse Engelbrecht
bt Waqar Mehboob 9/11, 11/4,
6/11, 11/4, 11/8 (55m)
"He was fast out
of the blocks, and he's so quick, I just didn't see the ball in
the first, I must have caught seven or eight taxis in that one!
"I managed to get into the game, but at 2/1 down I decided to
just play it down the alleys for the rest of the match, and it
paid off. It's sometimes nice to be able to win ugly when you're
not playing well.
"I'm glad I managed to play him before he strengthens up, he'll
be so dangerous once he's a little bit bigger …"
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Andy Whipp bt Chris Gordon
6/11, 11/8, 12/10, 11/5 (55m)
"I was so nervous
- I knew I could win but I put so much pressure on myself to
play well that I was just rubbish at the start! He's so long
with such a good reach, it's really tough to get the ball past
him, but coming back to take the third was crucial.
"I'm just playing a couple of leagues a week, plus my coaching,
but I feel like I'm playing really well. I just hope I can play
as well tomorrow …"
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Fri 10th:
It's almost here ...
Just a few hours to go before the biggest squash event ever held
in the UK gets under way - only the second time both World Opens
have been held together, and a first for the UK.
The men's qualifying draw takes place at 11am on Saturday, and
from then on it's non-stop action until the champions are
crowned the following Sunday.
Not long to go now then, for an
event that's been over two years in the planning - it was at the
National Championships in 2006 that the announcement was made.
The 2006 Announcement |
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