Thursday, March 28, 2024

Richards and Pilley dumped by qualifiers

By LEE HORTON

BIG GUNS Tom Richards and Cameron Pilley were sent tumbling from the Macau Open first round on a day of shocks.

Qualifiers Omar Abdel Meguid and Leo Au proved too strong for experienced opponents Richards and  Pilley, respectively,  as they marched confidently – yet unexpectedly – into the quarter-finals .

Meguid, the world No37 from Egypt (pictured above, left, with Richards) beat Englishman Richards – ranked 15 places higher – 11-5, 15-17, 11-7, 11-4 in 59 minutes and will now line up against South African Stephen Coppinger for a place in the last four.

Third seed Coppinger recovered from a game down to beat England left-hander Jonathan Kemp7-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-2.

But Au, from nearby Hong Kong, claimed the biggest scalp in his marathon victory over second seed Pilley. The 23-year-old world No46 survived a tense tie-break opening game before Australian number one Pilley, ranked 13 in the world, restored order to draw level.

The Hong Kong number two stuck to his guns however and, after 78 minutes, celebrated his first meeting with the tall Aussie by clinching a 16-14, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5 win.

Pilley later Tweeted:” Back to the drawing board big time. Bad first round loss here in Macau. Can’t dwell on it too much though, the worlds are coming up.”

Top seed Omar Mosaad secured his anticipated place in the last eight round – but the world No10 from Egypt was taken to four games before nailing experienced Finn Olli Tuominen 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4.

Mosaad (pictured above with Tuominen, right), bidding to become the third successive Egyptian winner of the title, now meets Malaysian number one Ong Beng Hee, winner of the title in 2001.

1st round:
[1] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4 (46m)
Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt [WC] Steven Liu (MAC) 11-4, 11-3, 11-6 (15m)
Max Lee (HKG) bt [Q] Ivan Yuen (MAS) 11-7, 13-11, 11-9 (43m)
[4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [Q] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) 11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11 (55m)
[3] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt Jonathan Kemp (ENG) 7-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-2 (42m)
[Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 11-5, 15-17, 11-7, 11-4 (59m)
Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-5, 11-7, 12-14, 11-6 (66m)
[Q] Leo Au (HKG) bt [2] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 16-14, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5 (78m)

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
[4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Max Lee (HKG)
[3] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY)
[Q] Leo Au (HKG) v Adrian Grant (ENG)

 

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