(updated 24-jan-10 20:26 )    [DRAW/RESULTS]

EGYPT-ENGLAND DAY AT GRAND CENTRAL
Where is all the international diversity of a few years ago? Today it was four Egyptians and three English players advancing out of the eight winners in the first round matches played at Grand Central. For England, this included 20-year-old Adrian Waller who score a thrilling upset over veteran Olli Touminen - more about that later.

SUBDUED FIRST FRAME
The Tournament of Champions got underway a little after noon this afternoon in fairly subdued fashion, with an unexciting contest between England's Alister Walker and Amr Swelim, who hails from Italy.

Walker is totally comfortable with a game played at medium pace up and down the walls. And that's what Swelim allowed Walker to dicate, playing ideally into Walker's hands. Walker waiting for the inevitable loose ball to put away.

Midway through game two, Swelim realized he had to up the pace to put more pressure on Walker. By then Walker was totally in the groove, and Swelim's gambit for pressure resulted in his own loose balls at crucial junctures.

AN UNSTRUCTURED BATTLE IN FIVE ACTS

It's Reda upsetting Momen in New York. photo © 2010 Rob White Photography.

Mohd Anwar Reda and Tarek Momen looked like they had been lulled into half speed as had the spectators of the Walker-Swelim contest.

But that was only for the fairly pedestrian first game, won handily by Reda as Momen appeared quite tentative and unready to fight. Reda, the younger competitor, seemed much more comfortable and relaxed.

In fact, as the match unfolded, it bore little to no resemblance to the prior contest, almost as if they were representative of different sports. There was no even a resemblance of length in this game. Well, that's not totally true. Reda was interested in using length and working Momen back in the court. But especially after losing the first game so readily, Tarek Momen really lost all interest in paying lip service to length and began to attack at the front at all angles and in all directions, whenever possible.

As Momen warmed up to the attack, he relaxed and began putting Reda under pressure. Reda responded with his own attacking style - which very much relies on more power and misdirection than Momen's racquetwork.

Reda survived the second, at 11-9.

At this juncture, the still tense Momen completely relaxed and loosened up and simply went for it. This resulted in a game played more and more in the front half of the court, with angle and touch battles into the front corners and the walls back to the service line.

Momen, with his feather touch, reaction speeds, and pure racquet speed, immediately seized the initiative.

With the next two games played at a frantic pace and chaotic pace, with little semblance of discipline, Momen attacked to the front from all quarters of the court, and Reda attempted to respond with pace. Reda was going to combat Momen's drops with drives to the nick. But Reda was opening up the court for Momen, and in a reactive mode, Momen was gaining confidence, and the contest was evened up at 2-2.

"He changed his game and cut down on the errors and I got defensive," said Reda of his mid-match lapse.  "Then in the fifth it was anyone’s game." 

For the first three and a half games of the match, there was barely a let called; the same cannot be said for the reamining parts of the contest, which were fought at close quarters with both competitors increasingly unwilling to give way after shooting.

The fifth game started out in seemingly the same vein, with Momen making five winning front court shots in fairly close succession, taking a 5-2 lead. And here's where Reda regrouped and showed a strong inner resolve and self confidence. He knew it was time to attack back with all the deception, precision and steadiness he could muster. His counter offensive caught Momen unaware, and Reda rung up a 7-1 run, turning a 2-5 defecit into a 9-6 lead. During that period, Momen also assisted in bringing Reda back into the contest, as Momen, only 21, showed a decided lack of discipline at a key moment in the match, going for some tactically unsound shots and attacks, producing a series of outright errors as well as placements that left him often out of position.

Trailing, 6-9, Momen fought back with one final flurry of attacking squash. But they split the next two points and Red stood at match ball, 10-7, at which point Reda unwisely went for a difficult backhand attack, dropping his volley into the top of the tin.

Reda was able to regroup and win two long points to 9-10. But a well played length shot by Reda left Momen standing too far from the low-clinging ball, and Reda, #33 in the world, had a good upset win over #24 Momen.

OLLI AWAKES, BUT TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
Qualifier Adrian Waller had the biggest day of his young pro career, putting out perrenial contender, Finland's Olli Tuominen. Waller started motivated, focused and fast; while Tuominen appeared to be sleepwalking.

It was in shockingly short order that Waller surprised everyone by sitting on a 2-0 lead.

At the beginning of the third game, Waller started things off with a tin, signalling to Olli his impending nervousness with the situation, and Olli responded with increased focus, effort and accuracy, reeling off the next two games quite quickly.

At two-all things got more intense and serious, but Olli opened some space, seemingly on the verge of victory at 10-7 match ball.

The impressively calm Waller had more in reserve however, tying it up at 10-10. The 20-year-old Englishman, who defended four match balls in the fifth game, smiled broadly as he cooled down after his 60 minute victory.  "I am really pleased with how I was able to come back in the fifth," said left-hander. 

He wasted several match balls, but eventually took home the upset win at 14-12 in the fifth.

HISHAM AND YASSER ENTERTAIN
Hisham Ashour and Yasser El Halaby staged an entertaining match. This match was going to go to the player who admitted wanting it more. Yasser, the four-time collegiate champ, is no longer playing on tour full time, and so is not completely in fighting trim. While Hisham, Ramy's brother, has the capability to self destruct at any time.

The second game was neck and neck. At nine all it was clear that the winner of this game was going to have most of the momentum for the rest of the match. Hisham won it 12-10 and coasted through the third.

DARWISH AND WILLSTROP WASTE NO TIME

It's very simple, Karim Darish and James Willstrop are in a completely different class than their first round opponents. The only question was how focused these two players would be in ensuring they conserved their energy for later rounds. Both were very focused.

PALMER SHOWS HE'S STILL THE ONE.

David Palmer wrapped things up for the evening with a dominant performance over a fellow Australian, Aaron Franckcomb. "I wanted him to know that he was going to be in for a hard match," Palmer said of his attacking strategy.  "And I want to try to keep the matches as short as possible."

He did all that, as the audience scattered into the night.

RESULTS, 2010 Tournament of Champions  [Draw/Results]

1st round:
FRIDAY
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Gilly Lane (USA) 11-3 11-3 11-9
[12] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Yasser El Halaby (EGY) 11-7 12-10 11-7
[7] David Palmer (AUS) bt Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 11-6 11-7 11-3
[Q] Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [11] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-6 11-4 2-11 6-11 14-12
[3] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 12-10 12-10 11-8
[9] Alister Walker (ENG) bt Amr Swelim (ITA)11-9 13-11 12-10
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [Q] Shaun le Roux (ENG) 11-7 11-2 11-5
Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt [13] Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-5 11-9 9-11 8-11 11-9

SATURDAY:
[16] Renan Lavigne (FRA) v Simon Rosner (GER)
[8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) v Mark Krajcsak (HUN)
[10] Stewart Boswell (AUS) v Rafael F Alarcon (BRA)
[4] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[15] Julian Illingworth (USA) v [Q] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
[5] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [Q] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[14] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [Q] Bernardo Samper (COL)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [Q] Alan Clyne (SCO)