David Palmer survived the toughest battle of all the first round matches in the Saudi International, the second richest PSA Tour event of the year which is being held for the first time in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Khobar.

 The only seed not to have taken part in last week’s World Team Championships in Pakistan, Palmer was expected to flourish at the $127,500 PSA Super Series Platinum event which rounds off a busy end-of-year schedule for the world’s top men. 

 However, the sixth-seeded Australian dropped the first game, and was taken to a tie-break in the second, before finally emerging victorious 8-11 11-10 11-7 7-11 11-8 in 80 minutes over unseeded Egyptian Mohammed Abbas.  It was Abbas who was in action in the final match of the World Championships, extending England’s Peter Nicol in a 44-minute title-decider.

 Palmer, the world No4 who could begin next year at the top of the world rankings if successful in Saudi, now meets anther Egyptian for a place in the last eight.  Karim Darwish, the tenth seed, recovered from a game down to beat Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee 4-11 11-6 11-10 11-7 in 47 minutes.

 England’s world team championships-winning heroes all claimed places in the second round without incident.  Squad No1 James Willstrop, the eighth seed, dismissed French qualifier Renan Lavigne 11-5 11-4 11-7, while seventh seed Peter Nicol beat compatriot Adrian Grant 11-9 11-8 11-6.  Fifth seed Lee Beachill needed four games to overcome Dutch qualifier Laurens Jan Anjema 11-7 9-11 11-5 11-4, while 11th seed Nick Matthew defeated Egyptian Wael El Hindi 11-5 10-11 11-7 11-1.