Day One: Afternoon Roundup

The first session of the Manchester Open was played today, with eight exciting encounters taking place in the afternoon at the National Squash Centre in Manchester, England.

Watch the evening session now on SQUASHTV (G1), while Court G2 will be shown live on the Manchester Open Squash website. Live scores are available on the PSA World Tour website here.

Subramaniam and Shahin make assured starts

In the opening matches of the day, Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam came through a tough battle with South Africa’s Alexandra Fuller to set up a second round contest with No.5 seed Rowan Elaraby, while Egypt’s Nadine Shahin impressed in a 3-0 win over France’s Enora Villard to earn a clash with No.6 seed Georgina Kennedy.

Despite going into her match with Fuller ranked eight places below the World No.32, Subramaniam travelled to Manchester fancied to make good progress, with the 24-year-old previously rising as high as World No.16 before a severe injury suffered last year forced her into a lengthy absence.

The Malaysian No.1 made a strong start as she held off Fuller to take game one 11-8.

The South African, however, responded well, taking the second game by the same scoreline to level the contest.

Subramaniam was able to reset and took the third game 11-7 and then the fourth 11-6 to wrap up the match.

Afterwards, Subramaniam said: “To get the win was good. I just came into this event with not too much expectation on myself. I think in recent tournaments, I have been putting too much pressure on myself and it’s not gone well. I enjoyed myself on there today and hopefully I can keep going.”

On court one, Shahin played the fast front wall better to overcome Villard.

The 25-year-old, playing in her fourth Manchester Open was tested hard by the French No.2 in the opening two games, with Shahin saving three game balls in the second, before pushing on in the third to secure an 11-7, 14-12, 11-2 win in 25 minutes.

Results

Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Alexandra Fuller (RSA) 3-1: 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6 (40m)

Nadine Shahin (EGY) bt Enora Villard (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 14-12, 11-2 (25m)

Cardenas comes back from the brink and Lobban cruises through

In the second set of matches, Mexico’s World No.25 Leonel Cardenas fought back from 2-0 down to beat Egypt’s World No.36 Yahya Elnawasany, while Scotland’s Greg Lobban secured the first British win in Manchester as he beat France’s Lucas Serme 3-0.

In a hard-fought opening game on the second glass court, Manchester Open debutant Elnawasany took the lead with an 11-9 win.

In a stop-start second, the Egyptian – who lost to Cardenas 3-0 in their only previous meeting, which came in last year’s 5K in Doha – had one foot in the second round as he repeated the first game’s scoreline to take a morale-boosting 2-0 lead.

Cardenas pushed back in the third game and had two game balls at 10-8 as he looked to pull a game back.

The Egyptian saved one, but could not save the second as Cardenas reduced the deficit to 2-1.

In a tense fourth game, both players had big opportunities to make the breakthrough. Cardenas seemed comfortable as he took the first six points, only for Elnawasany to gather himself and begin chipping away at the Mexican’s imposing lead.

The Egyptian did well to save two game balls when 10-8 down, and came agonisingly close to closing out the match in four games as he went match ball up at 11-10. Cardenas, however, clung on and forced a fifth game with a 13-11 victory.

Despite starting the fifth game with a conduct stroke for being late back on court, Cardenas began at rapid pace. The Mexican No.1 raced into a 5-1 lead, and was able to manage the rest of the contest as he earned his place in the second round – where he will face No.2 seed Tarek Momen – with an 11-7 win to end the match after a 69-minute struggle.

“It was tough,” Cardenas said afterwards.

Yahya [Elnawasany] is a great player and I was trying to find a way to get back into the match in the end I did.

“In the beginning, I was trying to find a way to get in the match and in the end I played well and used a bit of experience to get through.

“I struggled a lot, I like to play to the front a lot and I think I’m an attacking player and when you play someone so quick it’s always so hard so I had to change my tactics a bit as it went on.”

On court one, Scotland No.1 Lobban looked relaxed in his opening game, with the World No.31 controlling the pace of the contest well and picking his shots to take the lead with an 11-7 win in game one.

The 30-year-old continued to play with confidence in the second game, as he doubled his advantage with an 11-5 victory, before pushing on to seal a second round match against No.7 seed Nicolas Mueller with an 11-6 in game three.

Results

Greg Lobban (SCO) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (40m)

Leonel Cardenas (MEX) bt Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) 3-2: 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7 (69m)

Mohamed squeezes past Turmel and a comfortable Whitlock win

In a stop-start battle, Egypt’s Farida Mohamed edged past England’s Lucy Turmel on court one, while on court two, Wales’ Emily Whitlock coasted through at the expense of Switzerland’s Cindy Merlo.

In the pair’s last meeting, a 3-1 victory for Mohamed in the third round of the 2021 Egyptian Open, two of the games went to a tie break, and it was a similar story today in Manchester, with little to choose between the Egyptian World No.17 and the English World No.30.

In an even first game, that saw a number of decisions and appeals, Mohamed took the lead with an 11-8 win.

The Egyptian made a strong start in an equally fragmented second game, moving 9-7 up before Turmel saved a game ball at 11-10 down to draw level with a 14-12.

The pair went to a tie break once a gain in the third game, with Mohamed able to hold her nerve this time as she regained the advantage with a 14-12 win, before edging the fourth 11-9 to set up an all-Egyptian showdown in round two against No.3 seed Nour El Tayeb.

“It was very tough. I’m jet lagged and have been sleeping for the last 48 hours! I woke up just three hours ago,” Mohamed said.

“Lucy’s a very tough player and I knew it was going to be tough. This is one of the toughest first rounds on tour and I’m just happy to be through in four games and not having to play another one.

“In tie breaks, it’s more mental. I was trying to stay calm and make it faster.”

On court two, World No.21 Whitlock was in fine form to overcome Merlo. The 29-year-old was troubled early on by the Swiss No.1, with Merlo taking an 8-4 lead in game one.

The Welsh No.2, though, then began find her targets better as she took seven unanswered points to take the first game 11-8, which she followed up with a comfortable 11-6 win in game two.

In the third game, Whitlock saw off a mini comeback from Merlo to book her place in the next round, where she will play No.2 seed Amanda Sobhy, with an 11-7 win.

Afterwards, Whitlock said: “I’m pleased with that. Considering I was ill last week and wasn’t sure if I could play in the event, I’ll take that today.

“I had some nerves coming into the match but once I started to get into the rallies and saw that I was hitting the ball in the right areas, I settled down.”

Results

Farida Mohamed (EGY) bt Lucy Turmel (ENG) 3-1: 11-8, 12-14, 14-12, 11-9 (58m)

Emily Whitlock (WAL) bt Cindy Merlo (SUI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (29m)

Ghosal comes from behind to down Waller while Harrity breezes past Tandon

In the last matches of the afternoon session, India’s Saurav Ghosal came from behind to beat England’s Adrian Waller and USA’s Todd Harrity upset India’s Ramit Tandon.

On court one, Waller made a brilliant start to the contest, adopting an aggressive court position and attacking well as he deservedly took the first game 11-8.

The Indian No.1 hit back perfectly in the second, though, and quickly chalked off Waller’s advantage with an 11-4 win.

In a fragmented third game, Ghosal was able to push on and punish the inconsistencies creeping into Waller’s game to move 2-1 up with another 11-4 victory.

The Englishman requested a new ball for the fourth game, but was unable to stem the flow of points from Ghosal’s racket, with the World No.19 set to play French No.3 seed Victor Crouin in round two after seeing out the last game with his third 11-4 win.

Afterwards, Ghosal said: “I was able to create opportunities today and it’s been a work in progress. I’ve been trying my best and thankfully today it was, for the most part, pretty effective.

“I’m happy to get through today; Adrian Waller is a fantastic player and as you saw today, any time I left the ball not tight enough, he was punishing me.”

On court two, World No.45 Harrity looked in control from the outset against World No.30 Tandon.

After comfortably taking the first game 11-4, Harrity doubled his lead against the struggling Indian No.2 with an 11-5 win in the second.

Harrity continued to dominate in the third, hitting his targets with ease as he breezed into the next round – where he’ll face No.8 seed Karim Abdel Goad, who last week reached the PSA World Championship final – with another 11-4 win in the third game.

Results

Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-1: 8-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (52m)

Todd Harrity (USA) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 (28m)