Lobban Upsets Fellow Brit James to Qualify for Canary Wharf Classic Main Draw

 

Scotland's World No.31 Greg Lobban upset England's top qualifying seed Declan James in the final qualifying round of the 2018 Canary Wharf Classic to reach the main draw of the PSA M100 tournament for the first time.

This year's Canary Wharf Classic is the first ranking PSA World Tour event to use a best-of-three games scoring format during the qualification stages, first round and quarter-finals, while the traditional best-of-five scoring will be used for the semi-final and finals.

Lobban, the Edinburgh-based 25-year-old, followed up a 2-1 victory over Egypt's Youssef Soliman in the first round with a 2-0 victory over World No.26 James, taking it 11-9, 11-3 to set up a clash with four-time winner James Willstrop in round one of the main draw.

James was one of four Englishmen to fall in the final round of qualifying as Chris Simpson, Tom Richards and Ben Coleman all suffered defeats.

Simpson, who played above his seeding to dispatch compatriot Adrian Waller in the previous round, saw his tournament come to an end at the hands of France's Gregoire Marche, with the Frenchman prevailing 13-11, 11-9.

 

Marche's reward is a meeting with World No.6 Tarek Momen, while his fellow European, World No.18 Nicolas Mueller, defeated Richards 14-12, 11-6 and he will line up against close friend and Tournament of Champions winner Simon Rösner in round one of the main draw.

Egypt's Mazen Hesham was also victorious on the final day of qualifying as he defeated Coleman 2-0. The World No.32 will contest his first round fixture with World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy,

The opening day of first round action at the 15th edition of the Canary Wharf Classic takes place tomorrow. Matches start from 18:00 local time (GMT) and will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World) and Eurosport Player (Europe only).

Results - Final Qualifying Round: 2018 Canary Wharf Classic

[5] Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [1] Declan James (ENG) 2-0: 11-9, 11-3 (27m)

[4] Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 2-0: 11-9, 13-11 (41m)

[3] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [8] Tom Richards (ENG) 2-0: 14-12, 11-6 (31m)

[6] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Ben Coleman (ENG) 2-0: 14-12, 11-4 (27m)

Main Draw - First Round

[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v [Q] Mazen Hesham (EGY)

[Q] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [5] Simon Rösner (GER)

[8] Daryl Selby (ENG) (EGY) v Cameron Pilley (AUS)

Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [3] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)

[4] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA)

[Q] Greg Lobban (SCO) v [6] James Willstrop (ENG)

[7] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v Borja Golan (ESP)

[WC] Nathan Lake (ENG) v [2] Ali Farag (EGY)