PSA: Abdullah shines in Kuwait Cup

Abdullah advances  on a different Day One

Day One of the Kuwait PSA Cup, the ninth PSA World Series event of the year and the first to use an innovative 48-man draw format, saw 16 matches played over two venues with the winners booking their places in round two against the top 16 seeds who all first round received byes. There were a number of tough matches, but the highlight of the day was Kuwait’s own Abdullah Almezayen‘s upset win over Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez.

 

 

Round ONE:

Nicolas Mueller (Sui) bt Greg Marche (Fra)     11/8, 5/11, 11/8, 6/11, 11/6 (75m)
Chris Ryder (Eng) bt Andrew Wagih (Egy)                        11/7, 11/4, 11/6 (47m)
Abdullah Almezayen (Kuw) bt Miguel Rodriguez (Col)   11/5, 14/12, 11/7 (36m)
Borja Golan (Esp) bt Tom Richards (Eng)                 7/11, 11/8, 11/6, 11/9 (71m)

Olli Tuominen (Fin) bt Robbie Temple (Eng)         11/7, 11/13, 11/6, 12/10 (65m)
Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Tarek Momen (Egy)    11/9, 6/11, 8/11, 11/7, 11/5 (75m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Mark Krajcsak (Hun)             11/5, 11/7, 11/7 (45m)
Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Campbell Grayson (Nzl)  9/11, 11/6, 11/4, 5/11, 11/8 (80m)

Simon Rosner (Ger) bt Marwan El Shorbagy (Egy)  4/11, 11/7, 11/8, 11/9 (59m)
Steve Coppinger (Rsa) bt Ali Anwar Reda (Egy)            11/3, 11/5, 11/9 (48m)
Jon Kemp (Eng) bt Martin Knight (Nzl)                   9/11, 11/2, 11/8, 11/4 (45m)
Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) bt Karim A/Gawad (Egy) 8/11, 11/9, 11/6, 12/10 (65m)

Jan Koukal (Cze) bt Alan Clyne (Sco)                   9/11, 11/5, 11/7, 11/8 (60m)
Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Ong Beng Hee (Mas)                  11/6, 11/7, 11/9 (43m)
Max Lee (Hkg) bt Farhan Mehboob (Pak)                         11/3, 11/4, 11/7 (23m)
Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Adrian Waller (Eng)    11/2, 11/6, 8/11, 11/4  (39m)

Under way at Qadsia …

The Kuwait PSA Cup got under way with round one matches at the Qadsia club, while the sixteen seeds waited to see whom their round two opponents would be.

The first player through – to meet Cameron Pilley – was England’s Chris Ryder who recovered from 6/1 down in the first against World Series debutant Andrew Wagih to win 11/7, 11/4, 11/6.

That took 47 minutes, the other winners in the first batch of matches – Borja Golan andNicolas Mueller – both took over 70, Golan coming from a game down to beat Tom Richards 7/11, 11/8, 11/6, 11/9 while Mueller won a seesaw five-setter against young Frenchman Greg Marche 11/8, 5/11, 11/8, 6/11, 11/6. Golan meets Mohamed El Shorbagy while Mueller’s reward is a date with top seed Nick Matthew.

There was some consolation for the French as Mathieu Castagnet beat Mark Krajcsak in 45 minutes 11/5, 11/7, 11/7 and Jonathan Kemp provided the day’s first English winner, coming from behind to beat Martin Knight 9/11, 11/2, 11/8, 11/4 – also in 45 minutes.

The Centre Court schedule took another hammering as India’s Saurav Ghosal produced a second consecutive 70-minute plus upset on that court as he won the battle of the speed merchants against Egyptian Tarek Momen, winning 11/9, 6/11, 11/9, 11/7, 11/5. Ghosal faces a very different opponent next, in Dutchman LJ Anjema.

Meanwhile on the outside courts Steve Coppinger was grateful to get off in straight games against Ali Anwar Reda 11/3, 11/5, 11/9, with next opponent Stewart Boswell an interested observer, and Jan Koukal came from a game down to deny Scotland’s Alan Clyne in exactly an hour,  9/11, 11/5, 11/7, 11/8.

Boswell and Cameron Pilley were also interested to see Ryan Cuskelly come through in straight games against Ong Beng Hee, setting up a second round meeting with fellow left-hander Adrian Grant.

Two contrasting matches to finish the day at Qadsia as Omar Abdel Aziz survived in a tense, tight finish to beat compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad  3/1 while Hong Kong’s Max Lee eased to a 3/0 win over an out of sorts Farhan Mehboob.

Abdullah delights at Green Island

The second part of the day on the outdoor all-Glass court at Green Island couldn’t have got off to a better start for the organisers, as before a watching Sheikha Fadyah Al-Sabah Kuwait’s ownAbdullah Almezayan pulled off a significant upset against Miguel Angel Rodriguez. The Colombian was all hustle and bustle as ever, but the young Kuwaiti matched him in that department and bettered him in others to win 11/5, 14/12, 11/7.

Finland’s Olli Tuominen was next through with a 11/7, 11/13, 11/6, 12/10 win over Robbie Temple. The Finn squandered three game balls in the second, but made amends by saving two as he went on to close out the match in the fourth.

A hard-fought win for Chris Simpson followed, the Englishman coming from 2/1 down to beat Campbell Grayson in the longest match of the day in 80 minutes. Simpson now meets third seed James Willstrop, the new Hong Long champion, guaranteeing an English presence in the quarter-finals.

Completing the second round lineup, Simon Rosner was another who lost the first game before rallying to win, in the German’s case against world junior champion Marwan El Shorbagy, andMohammed Abbas‘ quicktime 3/1 win over Adrian Waller kept the midnight hour at bay, just.