El Gouna: First up in the nice and compact single court at at Abu Tig Marina in El Gouna, Egypt was India’s speedy Saurav Ghosal against left–handed qualifier Robbie Temple from England. Robbie is believed to be as strong with his right hand too.
The Englishman was quick off his blocks and made headway in the opening games and sailed through the first two games easily. Saurav lifted his game and made a strong comeback in the third and the fourth game with relative ease. Saurav made an aggressive start to the fifth game and he took the final set extremely comfortably to win the 85 minutes thriller to advance to the last 16.
“I had to dig pretty hard to win this,” admitted Ghosal. “Winning the 3rd helped, but he was still in it. In the 4th, I had a good spell, and I started to believe, felt more confident. And physically, I felt fine…”
Egypt's No4 seed Karim Darwish successfully began his defence of the El Gouna International Open title in the opening match on the all-glass court at Abu Tig Marina in El Gouna.
The third PSA World Series squash event of the year, being staged in the Red Sea resort for first time since 2010, is celebrating the return of international sport to Egypt after the revolution.
Meanwhile, World No10 Thierry Lincou, the in-form Frenchman who is the highest-ranked unseeded player in the draw, survived a tough five game battle against Australian Cameron Pilley, ranked just four places lower.
The decider alone lasted 31 minutes, with Lincou coming through from six-all to secure his place in the last 16 - just days after his 36th birthday.
Scores:
RESULTS: PSA World Series El Gouna International Open, El Gouna, Egypt
1st round (top half of draw):
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4 (43m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [Q] Robbie Temple (ENG) 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4 (85m)
Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 (48m)
[8] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 11-5 (49m)
[7] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Ivan Yuen (MAS) 11-7, 12-10, 11-6 (34m)
Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 2-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5, 11-6 (76m)
Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 11-8, 11-4, 11-5 (27m)
[4] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Adrian Waller (ENG) 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (35m)
