Heliopolis Egypt PSA Squash Open 2005

SHABANA ADVANCES [Main Draw]

Finland's Olli Tuominen survived his first round match in the Rotary Heliopolis Open Squash Championship – but the fourth seed was fully tested by Egyptian teenager Ramy Ashour, the world junior champion in his home town of Cairo.

Ashour, 17, clinched the first game in a tie-break, then forced two more games into tense tie-breaks before eventually bowing out bravely 10-11 (1-3), 11-10 (4-2), 11-9, 11-10 (4-2) to the fighting Finn.

Tuominen, the 26-year-old world No17 from Helsinki, has a surprise opponent in the next round: Englishman Adrian Grant arrived in Cairo fresh from his victory in last month's CAS International in Pakistan – success which catapulted the 24-year-old Londoner five places to No14 in the world rankings at the beginning of this month.

But on the Egyptian courts, left-hander Grant was no match for compatriot Jonathan Kemp, a qualifier who took just 30 minutes to stun his fifth-seeded countryman 11-5 11-8 11-6.

The other two first round matches on the opening day of this $40,000 PSA Tour event saw straightforward straight games victories for local players. Top seed Amr Shabana, the Cairo-based former world champion, beat compatriot Hisham Mohd Ashour, a qualifier, 11-8 11-5 11-10 in 44 minutes.

His opponent in the quarter-finals will be Wael El Hindi after the eighth seed defeated Frenchman Renan Lavigne 11-4 11-6 11-7.

RESULTS: Rotary Heliopolis Open Squash Championship, Cairo, Egypt
1st round, 1st Day: [Draw]
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-8, 11-5, 11-10 (2-0) (44m)
[8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-4, 11-6, 11-7
[4] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Ramy Ashour (EGY) 10-11 (1-3), 11-10 (4-2), 11-9, 11-10 (4-2)
[Q] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt [5] Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 (30m)

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2005 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.