Doha: Defending champion Nick Matthew of England and world number one Mohamed El Shorbagy of Egypt eased into the pre-quarter-finals of the PSA World Championship at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex here yesterday.
Four-time winner Amr Shabana and two-time champions Ramy Ashour and Tarek Momen, all from Egypt, also made it to last-16 stage.
India’s Saurav Ghosal, South Africa’s Stephen Coppinger and Germany’s Simon Rosner filled up the remaining three spots in the final 16.
Thirty-four-year-old Matthew stormed to an 11-6, 11-3, 11-4 win over world number 29 Gregoire Marche of France. The three-time winner took just 40 minutes to thwart the 24-year-old Frenchman’s challenge.
Matthew will take on India’s Saurav Ghosal in the pre-quarterfinals today.
“All the up-and-coming players have nothing to lose and Greg (Gregoire Marche) is a player on the rise and he has a great future before him. I knew he had a very hard game two days ago, and I knew that it’s normally the day after that you can get stiff. So, I tried and made it as hard as possible (for him) in the beginning,” Matthew said.
World number 18 Ghosal defeated Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan 11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4 in an engrossing tussle, which last four games and 51 minutes.
Matthew’s potential semi-final rival El Shorbagy took 29 minutes to tame India’s 20-year-old Mahesh Mangaonkar 11-6, 11-4, 11-1. The world number one dominated from start to finish, despite the young Indian’s best efforts to make a match out of it.
El Shorbagy tweeted that Mangaonkar will be the player to watch out for in the years to come. “Another great win for me against a player who will be very good in the future...the court has changed but I am loving this court even more!!,” El Shorbagy tweeted. The Egyptian will take on Simon Rosner of Germany, who came from behind to win 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, against qualifer Lucas Serme of France.
Another Egyptian, Ashour also kept himself in the hunt for a third world championship title as he breezed past England’s Adrain Grant in exactly half-an-hour, storming to a 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 win.
World number 21 Max Lee, of Hong Kong, stunned Karim Abdel Gawad, ranked four places ahead of him, in a 78-minute match.
Lee won 13-11, 3-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8 in 78 minutes and will take on Shabana, who powered to victory against Nicolas Mueller of Switzerland.
South Africa’s Steve Coppinger became another unseeded player qualifying for the last 16, joining the ranks of Lee, Australia’s Cameron Pilley and Alister Walker of Bostwana.
The world number 24 beat Ong Beng of Malaysia in straight games 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 to set up a clash with Tarek Momen of Egypt.
Momen rallied after losing the first game to register a 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 win.
THE PENINSULA
