The seventh edition of the Manchester Open got under way today at the National Squash Centre with sixteen first round matches.
Action takes place on the permanent Glass Court and the traditional Court Three, before moving to the additional Glass Court in the main arena for quarter-finals onward.
Today’s winners will take on the seeded players in Round Two, and there’s plenty of home interest with English players featuring in 11 of today’s 16 matches.
You can Watch Live on SquashTV, follow on Live Scoring and our Social Feeds, and we’ll have Reports, Reaction and Photos right here.
Afternoon Matches :
GC [9/16] Alicia Mead (Eng) 3-2 Rana Ismail (Egy) 8-11, 4-11, 11-1, 11-4, 14-12 (44m)
C3 [9/16] Haya Ali (Egy) 3-0 Joelle King (Nzl) 11-7, 11-9, 12-10 (27m)
GC [9/16] Sanjay Jeeva (Mas) 3-0 [wc] Bailey Malik (Eng) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 (34m)
C3 Edwin Clain (Fra) 3-2 [9/16] Charlie Lee (Eng) 7-11, 7-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-5 (68m)
GC [9/16] Nardine Garas (Egy) 3-2 Saskia Beinhard (Ger) 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 (42m)
C3 [9/16] Torrie Malik (Eng) 3-2 Lowri Roberts (Wal) 10-12, 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11 (47m)
GC [9/16] Nick Wall (Eng) 3-0 [wc] Finnlay Withington (Eng) 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8 (40m)
C3 Emyr Evans (Wal) 3-1 [9/16] Muhd Asim Khan (Pak) 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-3 (47m)
Evening Matches :
GC [9/16] Grace Gear (Eng) 3-0 Asia Harris (Eng) 11-2, 11-7, 11-6 (26m)
C3 [9/16] Aifa Azman (Mas) 3-0 Yasshmita Jadish Kumar (Mas) 11-2, 11-8, 11-1 (18m)
GC [9/16] Simon Herbert (Eng) 3-1 Diego Gobbi (Bra) 7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (37m)
C3 [9/16] Abhay Singh (Ind) 3-1 Daniel Poleshchuk (Isr) 9-11, 11-1, 11-2, 11-9 (43m)
GC Marta Dominguez (Esp) 3-0 [9/16] Saran Nghiem (Eng) 11-2, 11-3, 11-8 (24m)
C3 Kiera Marshall (Eng) 3-0 [9/16] Emilia Soini (Fin) 11-8, 11-4, 11-6 (25m)
GC [9/16] Patrick Rooney (Eng) 3-0 Aaron Allpress (Irl) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (33m)
C3 [9/16] Shahjahan Khan (Usa) 3-1 Ben Smith (Eng) 10-12, 11-9, 1-0 rtd (29m)
DRAWS & RESULTS WATCH LIVE LIVE SCORING SOCIAL FEEDS PHOTO GALLERY
Afternoon Roundup : trio of comebacks
Three players came back from 2-0 down in a busy afternoon session in Manchester. England’s Alicia Mead was the first player to recover as she battled back to beat Egypt’s Rana Ismail in the first match on the glass court. Mead lost the first two games 11-8, 11-4 before turning the tide to win 11-1, 11-4, 14-12.
Over on court 3, France’s Edwin Clain lost the opening two games to England’s Charlie Lee before working his way back into the match, finding his length and range at the front of the court. Clain maintained his focus throughout the final three games to win 11-5, 12-10, 11-5 to set up a meeting with top seed Aly Abou Eleinen tomorrow afternoon.
Following Clain’s victory, Egypt’s Nardine Garas also found herself 2-0 down to Germany’s Saskia Beinhard. The German used her power and precision to catch the Egyptian off guard in the opening games, winning them both 11-9. Garas kept her composure in game three and although she still wasn’t firing on all cylinders, claimed the game 11-7 to breathe more life in the contest. From there, the Egyptian found her rhythm and stormed to victory winning both final games 11-3.
Elsewhere in the afternoon session, Haya Ali and Emyr Evans scored victories as they beat Joelle King and Muhammad Asim Khan. Torrie Malik, Nick Wall and Sanjay Jeeva were the other winners on the glass court as they took out Lowri Roberts, Finnlay Withington and Bailey Malik. Malik saved a match ball at 11-10 to claim a place in round two whilst Jeeva and Wall both came through relatively comfortably.
Evening Roundup : wildcard Marshall one of seven English winners
Wildcard Keira Marshall scored the biggest upset of the evening session as she overturned a 28 ranking deficit to defeat Finland’s Emilia Soini in straight games. Marshall came through a tight first game, winning 11-8 and looked to be hitting with good accuracy in all four corners. This continued in games two and three as the World No.87 stormed through, winning 11-4, 11-6 to claim her first ever Bronze event win.
Marshall was joined by compatriots Grace Gear, Simon Herbert and Patrick Rooney as they all recorded comfortable wins on the glass court against Asia Harris, Diego Gobbi and Aaron Allpress.
India’s Abhay Singh backed up his Indian Open runner-up finish in style as he came through a challenging tussle with Israel’s Daniel Poleshchuk. The Israeli took the opening game 11-9 before Singh found his range at the front and started to work Poleshchuk into all areas. 11-1, 11-2 were the scores in the second and third games before he secured the win 11-9 in the fourth, to the delight of the support of his fans.
Elsewhere, Marta Dominguez silenced the Manchester crowd as she defeated home favourite Saran Nghiem in confident fashion. The Spaniard reached the semi-finals on home soil last week in Madrid and has continued that form winning 11-2, 11-3, 11-8 in just 24 minutes. Aifa Azman recorded the fastest win of the day as she needed just 18 minutes to get past compatriot Yasshmita Jadishkumar. Shahjahan Khan was the final winner of the day as he benefited from Ben Smith retiring injured in their clash at 1-1 over on court 3.
