Richie Fallows faces Declan James in all-English tie
By SEAN REUTHE and ALAN THATCHER
English duo Richie Fallows and George Parker will appear in the main draw of the Men’s AJ Bell PSA World Championships for the first time after they defeated Evan Williams and Rex Hedrick, respectively, to qualify for the main draw of the sport’s biggest tournament as qualifying came to an end at Manchester’s National Squash Centre.
Fallows, the World No.50 from London, overcame New Zealand’s World No.92 Williams by an 11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 12-10 scoreline to ensure that he will take on fellow Englishman Declan James in round one of the main draw.
Parker’s playing style, if not his temperament, has often been likened to three-time world champion Nick Matthew. And that’s who Parker (right) has been drawn against after an 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10 victory saw him upset Australia’s number three qualifying seed Hedrick.
Matthew, of course, is making his last-ever appearance at the iconic tournament after announcing that this will be his farewell season on the World Tour.
Frenchman Baptiste Masotti earned his place in the main draw of this tournament for the first time after he followed up an impressive first qualifying round win over top qualifying seed Mazen Gamal with a 3-0 victory over England’s Adam Murrills.
His reward is a meeting with Egypt’s Karim Ali Fathi in the main draw, while he will be joined by compatriot Auguste Dussourd, whose 3-1 win over Lyell Fuller will see him pitted against Scotland’s Alan Clyne in round one.
Egypt’s World No.58 Youssef Soliman disposed of Denmark’s Kristian Frost to set up a first round clash with fellow Egyptian Mohamed Reda, with Karim El Hammamy also progressing to ensure that there will be 15 Egyptians involved in the men’s main draw.
Meanwhile, qualification for the women’s tournament, which features equal prize money for the first time and will be held alongside the men’s tournament for only the second time in history, began yesterday (December 9) with all five English players falling at the first hurdle.
Japanese World No.67 Satomi Watanabe caused the day’s biggest shock after she felled Canada’s World No.24 Samantha Cornett and she will meet compatriot Misaki Kobayashi for a place in the main draw.
French World No.30 Coline Aumard also fell at the first hurdle after a surprise defeat to Scotland’s World No.60 Lisa Aitken.
There were also wins for Hania El Hammamy, Mayar Hany and Nele Gilis, all of whom will take on Egyptian opposition in the final round of qualifying.
The AJ Bell PSA World Championships is the biggest tournament in squash and will see the men’s and women’s tournaments played side by side for the first time since 2011, while equal prize money will be on offer for the first time in history.
The tournament is held at Manchester’s National Squash Centre up until the third round (December 8-13), with quarter-final matches onwards taking place at the Manchester Central Convention Complex (December 14-17).
Selected matches from the main draw will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World) or Eurosport Player (Europe only), while semi-finals and finals will be shown live on mainstream broadcast channels around the world, including BT Sport, beIN Sports, Fox Sports Australia and Astro.
Tickets start from just £22 and can be purchased here: www.ticketmaster.co.uk/ajbellworldchamps
For more information, please visit the tournament website: www.ajbellworldchampionships.com
AJ Bell PSA World Championships, Manchester, England.
Men’s Final Qualifying Round:
[19] Jan van den Herrewegen (BEL) bt [16] Jens Schoor (GER) 3-2: 11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 6-11, 11-9 (58m)
Rui Soares (POR) bt [15] Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (25m)
[10] Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) bt [29] Michael McCue (CAN) 3-1: 11-9, 3-11, 11-5, 11-9 (66m)
Bernat Jaume (ESP) bt [4] Christopher Gordon (USA) 3-2: 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7 (81m)
[18] Karim El Hammamy (EGY) bt [5] Vikram Malhotra (IND) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-6 (43m)
[30] Edmon Lopez (ESP) bt [8] Nick Sachvie (CAN) 3-1: 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5 (58m)
[11] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [28] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3 (62m)
[2] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt [32] Kristian Frost (DEN) 3-2: 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-2, 11-4 (88m)
[25] George Parker (ENG) bt [3] Rex Hedrick (AUS) 3-1: 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10 (66m)
[12] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt [17] Andrew Schnell (CAN) 3-1: 12-14, 11-2, 11-4, 13-11 (49m)
[9] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt [20] Chris Hanson (USA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-1 (29m)
[7] Peter Creed (WAL) bt [31] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) 3-1: 11-4, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6 (40m)
[6] Richie Fallows (ENG) bt [27] Evan Williams (NZL) 3-1: 11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 12-10 (51m)
[14] Christopher Binnie (JAM) bt Robertino Pezzota (ARG) 3-1: 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5 (55m)
Auguste Dussourd (FRA) bt Lyell Fuller (ENG) 3-1: 13-15, 11-6, 11-9, 13-11 (66m)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [21] Adam Murrills (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-2, 11-6 (32m)
First Round (December 10):
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Todd Harrity (USA)
Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) v [Q] Edmon Lopez (ESP)
Declan James (ENG) v [Q] Richie Fallows (ENG)
Tom Richards (ENG) v [15] Cesar Salazar (MEX)
[13] Daryl Selby (ENG) v [Q] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND)
Campbell Grayson (NZL) v [Q] Peter Creed (ENG)
Greg Lobban (SCO) v Raphael Kandra (GER)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v [8] Paul Coll (NZL)
[5] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [Q] George Parker (ENG)
Max Lee (HKG) v [Q] Jan van den Herrewegen (BEL)
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v Arturo Salazar (MEX)
Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [11] Simon Rösner (GER)
[10] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [WC] Joshua Masters (ENG)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [Q] Karim El Hammamy (EGY)
Joel Makin (WAL) v [Q] Christopher Binnie (JAM)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
[4] Ali Farag (EGY) v Adrian Waller (ENG)
Mohamed Reda (EGY) v [Q] Youssef Soliman (EGY)
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) v [Q] Baptiste Masotti (FRA)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [14] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
[12] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v Olli Tuominen (FIN)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Leo Au (HKG)
Zahed Mohamed (EGY) v [Q] Rui Soares (POR)
[Q] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) v [7] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY)
Nathan Lake (ENG) v Chris Simpson (ENG)
Lucas Serme (FRA) v [Q] Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP0
[Q] Bernat Jaume (ESP) v [16] Borja Golan (ESP)
[9] James Willstrop (ENG) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
Ben Coleman (ENG) v [Q] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)
Alan Clyne (SCO) v [Q] Auguste Dussourd (FRA)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [2] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
2017 Women’s AJ Bell PSA World Championships. First Qualifying Round:
[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 (22m)
Yathreb Adel (EGY) bt [10] Samantha Teran (MEX) 3-0: 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 (20m)
[16] Zeina Mickawy (EGY) bt Julianne Courtice (ENG) 3-1: 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 (45m)
[8] Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG) bt [L] Elise Lazarus (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 11-1, 6-11, 11-7 (45m)
[L] Lisa Aitken (SCO) bt [5] Coline Aumard (FRA) 3-1: 11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10 (42m)
[9] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Haley Mendez (USA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-3 (23m)
[15] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) bt [L] Nadiia Usenko (UKR) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-4 (18m)
[3] Mayar Hany (EGY) bt [L] Alice Green (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 (18m)
[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt [L] Cristina Gomez (ESP) 3-0: 11-9, 11-2, 11-5 (24m)
[11] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Sarah Cardwell (AUS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-3, 11-6 (24m)
[13] Milou van der Heijden (NED) bt [L] Lucy Turmel (ENG) 3-1: 7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-3 (39m)
[7] Nadine Shahin (EGY) bt [L] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) 3-1: 5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (34m)
[6] Hollie Naughton (CAN) bt Danielle Letourneau (CAN) 3-0: 14-12, 12-10, 11-6 (30m)
[14] Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt Hana Ramadan (EGY) 3-2: 11-5, 11-4 8-11, 10-12, 12-10 (51m)
[12] Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) bt Menna Hamed (EGY) 3-2: 11-9, 6-11, 16-14, 8-11, 11-7 (53m)
[L] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [2] Samantha Cornett (CAN) 3-1: 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9 (37m)
Qualifying Finals (December 10):
[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Yathreb Adel (EGY)
[16] Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v [8] Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG)
[L] Lisa Aitken (SCO) v [9] Rachael Grinham (AUS)
[15] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v [3] Mayar Hany (EGY)
[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) v [11] Nada Abbas (EGY)
[13] Milou van der Heijden (NED) v [7] Nadine Shahin (EGY)
[6] Hollie Naughton (CAN) v [14] Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL)
[12] Misaki Kobyashi (JPN) v [L] Satomi Watanabe (JPN)
Pictures courtesy of PSA