By LEE HORTON
WORLD champion Nick Matthew beat the cold, the clock and world number 10 Daryl Selby to ease into the second-round of the Hong Kong Open.
The two Englishmen were two hours behind schedule before their match started but Matthew made up for lost time by starting at a blistering pace which was matched by Essex man Selby.
However, the cool conditions appeared to suit Matthew better as he nullified Selby’s strength and imposed his presence on proceedings. Matthew took the first 11-5, the second 11-6 and wrapped up the victory 13-11 as Selby upped the ante with a late push that Matthew was delighted to quell.
A happy Matthew said afterwards: “At my age, with the number of times I’ve played Daryl, I should know better that he is never finished. He has done the same to me so many times, at the Nationals for example, where he gives you that false security feeling that he is tired, but he is not. And he gives it a last push. He is never as dangerous as when he is down.”
Matthew now meets Saurav Ghosal, who made it a hat-trick of losses for the French qualifiers with a straight games win over Lucas Serme just before midnight.
The match of the day saw young French qualifier Greg Marche come from two games down against Nicolas Mueller, fight to match ball at 10-9 in the fifth too, before finally losing in 89 minutes.Â
Meanwhile, five-time champion Amr Shabana beat French qualifier, Mathieu Castagnet, in straight games after saving game balls in the second.
Karim Abdel Gawad added to the Egyptian tally in the second-round as he came from 2-1 down to beat England’s Joe Lee, setting up a meeting with second seed Gregory Gaultier who took just under an hour to see off the challenge of Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema in four games.
Click here for Monday’s first-round action.
Really struggled on that court tonight. Frustratingly poor performance, was lucky to get anywhere near taking a game. #BadDayAtTheOffice
— Daryl Selby (@DarylSelby) December 4, 2013
Round One: Men’s Bottom Half Results:
[8] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-1 [Q] Max Lee (Hkg) 6-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-4 (58m)
Olli Tuominen (Fin) 3-0 [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (Egy) 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (45m)
Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 3-2 [Q] Joe Lee (Eng) 12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8 (80m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-1 Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 11-8, 11-2, 10-12, 11-7 (59m)
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 3-2 [Q] Grégoire Marche (Fra) 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 5-11, 15-13 (89m)
[6] Amr Shabana (Egy) 3-0 [Q] Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 11-6, 15-13, 11-5 (58m)
[4] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-0 Daryl Selby (Eng) 11-5, 11-6, 13-11 (54m)
Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 3-0 [Q] Lucas Serme (Fra) 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 (40m)
Round Two – Men’s Draw:
[1] Ramy Ashour (Egy) v Adrian Waller (Eng) – 16:30pm
Chris Simpson (Eng) v [7] Borja Golan (Esp) – 18:00pm
Marwan Elshorbagy (Egy) v [5] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) – 14:15pm
[3] James Willstrop (Eng) v Simon Rosner (Ger) – 13:30pm
[4] Nick Matthew (Eng) v Saurav Ghosal (Ind) – 20:15pm
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) v [6]Â Amr Shabana (Egy) – 18:45pm
[8] Tarek Momen (Egy) v Olli Tuominen (Fin) – 17;15pm
Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) v [2] Gregory Gaultier – 19:30pm
 Pictures by Steve Cubbins (SquashSite)