thirteen of the men’s top seeds are now through to round two of the world’s richest squash tournament
with only one seeded casualty in Anthony Ricketts, but several the world’s top-ranked players
struggled their way through the first round of the 2007 Sheikha Al Saad Kuwait Open.
Australia’s world number three David Palmer was forced to fight back from two down to overcome
Italian qualifier Davide Bianchetti in five games.
Palmer described the game as a wake-up call. “I was a bit slow out of the blocks, to be sure.
It wasn't a hard grinding match, but I was a bit defensive to start with, waiting for something
to happen and nothing did. It's dangerous being 2-0 down obviously. I knew I needed a good start
in the fifth, which I got.”
Fellow Australian and world number 10, Stewart Boswell, was also taken to five games against
Canada’s Shahier Razik in a marathon hour-and-a-half match, while a third Australian, world number seven,
Anthony Ricketts, struggled with an injury before losing 3-1 in the day’s big upset to English qualifier Jonathon Kemp. Aussie-Scot John White also struggled to victory, coming from 2-1 down to beat Cameron Pilley.
White now faces Gregory Gaultier after the second seed beat fellow-Frenchman Renan Lavigne in straight games.
England’s world number eight, James Willstrop also found life tough in his four-game win against Spain’s Borja Golan. "I was just trying to put some decent squash together which I did for a lot of it. He looked fresher than I felt at the end,” Willstrop said.
Kemp'and Willstrop led an Englishcharge into the last sixteen as they were joined by Lee Beachill, Nick Matthew, Adrian Grant and Peter Barker.
Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee defeated crowd favourite Hisham Ashour in four games and now faces Hisham’s brother Ramy, who despatched Joey Barrington in straight games.
"I'm very excited - one Ashour down and now to take on the other one,” Ong Beng Hee said. “If I can beat the two Ashours my ball sense must be the best in the world! Hisham is so talented and unpredictable. He's playing so much better than his ranking.”
As the action moved to the glass court - after a spectacular opening ceremony (photos to follow) - the crowd were treated to aspirited performance fom local favourite Bader Al Hussaini who put up a spirited fight against Mohamed Abbas.
Last on was top seed and world number one Amr Shabana, who kept up the day's pattern as young Englishman Alister Walker pulled back from two games down only to lose a tense decider.
[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [Q] Alister Walker (Eng) 11/4, 11/6, 6/11, 6/11, 11/7 (60m)
[14] Adrian Grant (Eng) bt Azlan Iskandar (Mas) 6/11, 12/10, 5/11, 11/9, 11/3 (86m)
[7] James Willstrop (Eng) bt Borja Golan (Esp) 11/6, 11/8, 8/11, 13/11 (52m)
[9] Lee Beachill (Eng) bt Alex Gough (Wal) 11/4, 11/4, 11/5 (28m)
[3] David Palmer (Aus) bt [Q] Davide Bianchetti (Ita) 9/11, 4/11, 11/2, 11/3, 11/3 (71m)
[10] Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt Shahier Razik (Can) 11/9, 11/9, 9/11, 2/11, 11/5 (90m)
[6] Nick Matthew (Eng) bt Olli Tuominen (Fin) 11/7, 5/11, 11/3, 11/7 (54m)
[13] Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Bader Al Hussaini (Kuw) 11/4, 11/3, 11/7 (31m)
[12] Wael El Hindi (Egy) bt [Q] Bradley Ball (Eng) 11/5, 11/8, 11/4 (31m)
[Q] Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt [5] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) 11/13, 11/7, 11/3, 11/9 (44m)
[15] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt [Q] Hisham Ashour (Egy) 10/12, 11/9, 11/5, 13/11 (46m)
[4] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [Q] Joey Barrington (Eng) 11/7, 11/1, 11/5 (31m)
[16] Peter Barker (Eng) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 11/8,11/4, 11/3 (48m)
[8] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt [Q] Aamir Atlas Khan (Pak) 11/6, 11/2, 11/2 (33m)
[11] John White (Sco) bt Cameron Pilley (Aus) 7/11, 11/6, 9/11, 11/4, 11/3 (62m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt [Q] Renan Lavigne (Fra) 11/3, 11/5, 11/4 (37m)
Men's Round One