Joe Lee meets top seed Gregory Gaultier
By SEAN REUTHE in Linköping
Qualification at the 2017 UCS Swedish Open came to a close in Linköping this evening with British squash players enjoying success in all four encounters as English trio Joe Lee, Declan James and Adrian Waller were joined by Welshman Joel Makin in the main draw of the PSA M70 tournament.
Lee, the number six qualifying seed, produced an impressive performance to get past French number two seed Lucas Serme in straight games, while James was forced to come from behind to win a testing five-game, 80-minute encounter with Spaniard Iker Pajares Bernabeu.
James will hope to carry that momentum into a first round encounter with Tarek Momen, runner-up here twelve months ago, while Lee earns a first round match up with 2015 World Champion Gregory Gaultier.
Waller also had to battle his way through a five-game final qualification match, with German Raphael Kandra being the victim, while Makin, the number eight seed, edged his way past Egyptian Mohamed Reda in a tense four-game encounter, recovering from dropping the first to secure the victory courtesy of 13-11 wins in the third and fourth games.
Makin will face Cameron Pilley in the first round, with Waller going up against Simon Rösner.
2017 UCS Swedish Open, Linköping, Sweden.
Results – Final Qualifying Round:
[1] Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [5] Raphael Kandra (GER) 3-2: 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8 (77m)
[6] Joe Lee (ENG) bt [2] Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-7, 11-2 (51m)
[3] Declan James (ENG) bt Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) 3-2: 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6 (80m)
[8] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [4] Mohamed Reda (EGY) 3-1: 8-11, 11-8, 13-11, 13-11 (78m)
Main Draw – First Round (To Be Played February 2nd)
[1] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)
[Q] Joel Makin (WAL) v [6] Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[7] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
[WC] Rasmus Hult (SWE) v [3] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[4] Simon Rösner (GER) v [Q] Adrian Waller (ENG)
Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) v [8] Daryl Selby (ENG)
[5] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [Q] Declan James (ENG)
[Q] Joe Lee (ENG) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Picture by KIM ROBERTS