THE TOP WOMEN PLAYERS IN THE WORLD started out their quest for the legendary British Open championship on the Aberdeen Squash Club's cement courts. While the main draw of the men's tournament was kept to the two exhibition courts at the spacious Aberdeen Exhibition Center, the women instead were relegated to playing, in many cases, their all-important first round clashes on the cement of the informal Aberdeen Club.
The Club had undergone an extensive refurbishment in advance of the tourney, and therefore the courts had been replastered and relined. That could change, however, the fact that the courts played extremely fast, and when the new "double dot" ball and warm weather are added to the mix, a venue favoring the "blasters".
Players who hit hard by nature, such as Jenny Tranfield, Suzanne Horner, Vanessa Atkinson and others, stood to (and did) benefit from the situation.
AMERICANS KHAN AND KHAN FALL OUT
The sole Americans in either the men's or women's draws were Latasha (ranking #20) and Shabana (ranking #25) Khan. Neither fared well in the opening round, with Shabana never able to get going against the hard hitting Horner and Latasha losing out in a hard fought match to Claire Nitch of South Africa.
Shabana observed afterwards that the chronically small American WISPA contingent suffers from a lack of support. Most of the other women are with larger groups of players from their countries, and the other compatriots provide informal support and coaching along the way.
TALENTED SALMA
Egypt's talented Salma Shabana lost a long four game nail-biter to Rebecca Macree from England. Salma time and again carried long rallies against Macree, using combinations of hard driving, accurate lobs and volleys, and drops.
Unfortunately her dropping tactically came at the wrong time and she erased her advantage in many points through low-percentage drops to tin.
This was an exciting game to watch
WOMEN COMPETING FOR SPECTATORS
With the men's final qualifying round happening concurrently with the women's first round, the women found themselves on the short end of the stick, spectator-wise.
For example, world champion Cassie Campion, who has garnered exception media interest and press this week in Scotland and across the UK, played out her first round match in front of less than 20 spectators. On an adjoining court, a large crowd pressed in to get a glimpse of the concurrent match involving Ong Beng Hee and Peter Genever. Sarah Fitz-Gerald's match attracted a similarly small crowd.
The only women's match garnering a large crowd was the Shabana Macree match.
AMJAD SOLE REMAINING PAKISTANI REP
A large contingent of Pakistani qualifier-hopefuls failed to make it into the main draw. Zubair Jahan Khan fell to Byron Davis of Australia. Mansoor Zaman fell to Stephen Meads of England. Zarak Khan fell to Daniel Forslund of Sweden. Mohd Hamayun Khan fell to Lee Drew of England. Shahid Zaman fell to Billy Haddrell of Australia/Netherlands. Tahir Khan fell to Joseph Kneipp of Australia. Ajaz Azmat fell to Scott Handley of England. Muhammad Ilyas fell to Stewart Boswell of Australia.
This leaves Amjad Khan, nephew of Jansher Khan, the only Pakistani in the British Open main draw. Amjad made it through to the second round with a win that didn't tax him against Marcus Berrett, a qualifier.
British Open championship on the Aberdeen Squash Club's cement courts. While the main draw of the men's tournament was kept to the two exhibition courts at the spacious Aberdeen Exhibition Center, the women instead were relegated to playing, in many cases, their all-important first round clashes on the cement of the informal Aberdeen Club.
The Club had undergone an extensive refurbishment in advance of the tourney, and therefore the courts had been replastered and relined. That could change, however, the fact that the courts played extremely fast, and when the new "double dot" ball and warm weather are added to the mix, a venue favoring the "blasters". 
A large contingent of Pakistani qualifier-hopefuls failed to make it into the main draw. Zubair Jahan Khan fell to Byron Davis of Australia. Mansoor Zaman fell to Stephen Meads of England. Zarak Khan fell to Daniel Forslund of Sweden. Mohd Hamayun Khan fell to Lee Drew of England. Shahid Zaman fell to Billy Haddrell of Australia/Netherlands. Tahir Khan fell to Joseph Kneipp of Australia. Ajaz Azmat fell to Scott Handley of England. Muhammad Ilyas fell to Stewart Boswell of Australia.