Peruvian World No.34 Diego Elias and Qatari World No.42 Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi overcame higher-ranked opposition in the final qualifying round of the NetSuite Open to reach the main draw of the PSA M100 tournament taking place in San Francisco, United States.
World No.34 Elias, a two-time World Junior Champion, came up against England’s Tom Richards in his fixture, with 30-year-old Richards ranked eight places above Elias in the World Rankings.
But an apparent injury to Richards after the opening game saw him struggle with his movement, and Elias picked him off to record an 11-5, 11-3, 11-1 triumph in 35 minutes, setting up a main draw clash with Egypt’s Ali Farag, who reached the final of the Al Ahram Squash Open NEWGIZA last week.
"The first game was very tough and long," said Elias.
"I think something happened, maybe he picked up an injury because he wasn’t the same. But I’m happy with the win and to feel well on court.
"It’s the first time I’ve played here, I got injured a week before the tournament last year so it’s great to reach the main draw. I’m very happy to be here. I didn’t think ahead to the main draw because I was focusing on getting through qualifying first. I don’t care who I face, every match is going to be hard."
Al Tamimi, meanwhile, secured his main berth courtesy of a fine win over World No.36 Adrian Waller in straight games. The 21-year-old, who has three PSA World Tour titles to his name, will take on World No.12 Simon Rösner for a place in the last eight.
Frenchman Gregoire Marche and Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller were the other victors on the final day of qualifying after they achieved respective wins against Alan Clyne and Cesar Salazar.
Marche will lock horns with last year’s runner-up Nick Matthew in the next round, while Mueller will line up against World No.7 Marwan ElShorbagy.
Elsewhere, all of the top four qualifying seeds in the Women’s event made it through to the main draw unscathed, with former World No.5 Low Wee Wern banishing the injury demons that have dogged the last 18 months of her career to defeat England’s Alison Thomson.
"I’m feeling great to be able to be back on court again. To be honest, it feels a bit weird to be playing in the qualifying, I haven’t done that in a long time. But it’s good to get two matches in and to get to the main draw again.
"I’m just happy to get back on court again. When I first came back I put a lot of pressure on myself to want to do well and win again. After a while, you realise that you should just be happy to play with no pain. So right now, this year that’s my goal. To play as many matches as I can without any hassle.”
Low is set to face Egypt’s World No.12 Nour El Tayeb in round one, while Fiona Moverley, Samantha Teran and Sarah Cardwell also rose to victories.
Moverley and Teran will meet United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy and Heba El Torky, respectively, while Cardwell will clash with England’s Victoria Lust.
2016 NetSuite Open - Men’s Final Qualifying Round Results
[4] Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt [8] Alan Clyne (SCO) 3-1: 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-3 (65m)
[6] Diego Elias (PER) bt [2] Tom Richards (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-1 (25m)
[5] Nicholas Mueller (SUI) bt [3] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-2: 5-11, 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 11-3 (46m)
Abdulla Al Tamimi (QAT) bt [7] Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 (35m)
2016 NetSuite Open - Men’s First Round Draw
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
Max Lee (HKG) v [8] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[7] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
[Q] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [4] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [WC] James Willstrop (ENG)
[Q] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [6] Simon Rösner (GER)
[6] Ali Farag (EGY) v [Q] Diego Elias (PER)
[Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
2016 NetSuite Open - Women’s Final Qualifying Round Results
[1] Fiona Moverley (ENG) bt Laura Pomportes (FRA) 3-0: 11-8
No comments:
Post a Comment