2005 World Open
	Draws: Men's Draw Women's Draw Qualifying: Men's Qualifier Women's Qual Previews: By Team Kneipp Top Half Bottom Half Martin Bronstein: Willstrop Ron Beck: Womens Draw

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Rachael Grinham stopped Pamela Nimmo in today's first round action (photo © Alex Wan)

All eyes are on the women's draw at the 2005 World Open in Hong Kong which started today, with play in the top half of the men's and women's draws.

While there is parity on both the men's and women's side of the draw, it is the Women's tournament which has the most consequence for the world rankings.

Vanessa Atkinson, the defending world champ, comes into Hong Kong with the Qatar Classic trophy in her bag and the world number one ranking, finally. Vanessa's win coupled with Rachael Grinham's semi final loss (to Vicky Botwright), gives Vanessa the points to officially reach World Number One - and give Holland it's first world #1 in squash ever - as of December 1st.

With that in mind, Rachael Grinham was on fire today, defeating Pamela Nimmo in straight games. Tomorrow she will watch both Nicol David and Vanessa Atkinson begin play in the bottom half of the draw. Among the seeded players, New Zealand's Shelley Kitchen became the first seed to fall in the women's event as Welsh No1 Tegwen Malik claimed a surprise place in the second round.

Amr Shabana had too much offense for Simon Parke (photo © Alex Wan)

France's Thierry Lincou successfully negotiated the first hurdle in his defence of the men's title in the Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Privilege World Open Squash Championships today (Tuesday) in Hong Kong.

Lincou, the world No1 from Marseille who became world champion for the first time a year ago in Qatar, dismissed Egypt's Wael El Hindi 11-5 11-9 11-6 in 43 minutes to set up an all-French clash with Gregory Gaultier, his team-mate in next month's World Team Championships in Pakistan. 

Gregory, the tenth seed from Aix-en-Provence, was let off lightly by rising star Ramy Ashour, the 18-year-old world junior champion from Egypt who was forced to concede the match after just 18 minutes, suffering with a sore knee.

England's former world number ones Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill made up for the disappointment of their premature Qatar Classic exits last week with four-game wins today.  Nicol, the sixth seed, beat compatriot Adrian Grant 7-11 11-9 11-6 11-6 in 56 minutes to avenge the shock defeat by his fellow left-hander on the same courts twelve months ago in the Hong Kong Open. 

America's Latasha Khan fell to Annelize Naude (photo © Alex Wan)

Fourth seed Beachill, winner of the US Open title at the beginning of the month, defeated Australian Joseph Kneipp 11-2 11-7 10-11 11-6 in 46 minutes to set up a second round clash with fellow Briton John White, the 11th seed from Scotland who ended Welsh qualifier Alex Gough's run 11-5 11-6 10-11 11-10.

Simon Parke made a strong start in his 15th successive World Open appearance since 1989 by taking the first game against Egypt's fifth seed Amr Shabana.  But the left-hander from Cairo, still recovering from a minor injury over the past few weeks, came back to beat the English qualifier 6-11 11-5 11-7 11-2 in 55 minutes.

In the women's event, Tegwen Malik's 9-7 9-6 9-7 upset over 11th seed Shelley Kitchen takes the Welsh champion into the second round of a WISPA Grand Prix event for the first time in her career.  The 30-year-old from Swansea now meets Egypt's eighth seed Omneya Abdel Kawy, who beat Australian qualifier Dianne Desira 9-4 9-4 9-7.

Earlier in the day, Hong Kong star Rebecca Chiu delighted the local crowds with a 9-6 9-3 9-5 victory over Mexican qualifier Samantha Teran. The 15th seed, who is also the reigning Asian Games champion, now faces top seed Rachael Grinham after the world No1 from Australia defeated Scotland's Pamela Nimmo 9-1 9-3 9-4.

RESULTS:        Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Privilege World Open Squash Championships, Hong Kong 

Men's 1st round:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Wael El Hindi (EGY)           11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (43m)
[10] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 11-5, 11-2, 7-2 ret. (18m)
[6] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Adrian Grant (ENG)          7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (56m)
[16] Shahid Zaman (PAK) bt [Q] Renan Lavigne (FRA)   11-10 (3-1), 11-4, 10-11 (0-2), 4-11, 11-8 (58m)
[4] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Joseph Kneipp (AUS) 11-2, 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-6 (46m)
[11] John White (SCO) bt [Q] Alex Gough (WAL)   11-5, 11-6, 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (4-2) (59m)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Simon Parke (ENG)    6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (55m)
[15] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [Q] Joey Barrington (ENG)   11-6, 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-3 (45m)

Women's 1st round:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Pamela Nimmo (SCO)      9-1, 9-3, 9-4 (25m)
[15] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt [Q] Samantha Teran (MEX)    9-6, 9-3, 9-5 (42m)
[7] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG)    9-2, 9-2, 9-5 (34m)
[10] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt Melissa Martin (AUS)     9-3, 5-9, 9-2, 9-4 (31m)
[12] Annelize Naude (NED) bt Latasha Khan (USA)    9-2, 9-2, 9-7 (44m)
[8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [Q] Dianne Desira (AUS) 9-4, 9-4, 9-7 (31m)
Tegwen Malik (WAL) bt [11] Shelley Kitchen (NZL)    9-7, 9-6, 9-7 (42m)

Rachael Grinham and Pamela Nimmo (photo © Alex Wan)