Ramy Survives Slippery Start In El Gouna

RESULTS: El Gouna International Open, El Gouna, Egypt

2nd round (top half of draw):
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (48m)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Farhan Mehboob (PAK) 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6 (95m)
[4] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [9] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) 11-13, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 (78m)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 (36m)

Ramy Survives Slippery Start In El Gouna

Egypt's world number one Ramy Ashour survived the opening match of the El Gouna International Open on the first day of action in the inaugural $142,500 PSA Super Series squash event on an all-glass court in El Gouna.

But an unusually humid evening caused excessively slippery conditions on the court - and the second round clash had to be halted for more than half an hour, midway through the first game, while the wind played its part in helping to restore the court to a playable condition.

After early action in Alexandria, the 2010 El Gouna International Open - the seventh 2010 PSA Super Series event and the second this year to be staged in Egypt - is now being staged in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of El Gouna, through to the grand final on Sunday (24 October).

Top seed Ashour was facing Karim Abdel Gawad, a 19-year-old qualifier from Cairo - and recovered from the break to beat his young compatriot 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 in 48 minutes of playing time.

"That's happened to me twice before," Ashour told www.squashsite.co.uk when asked to comment about the interruption. "The first time I was completely lost, but now I know how to deal with it. In the end the court was fine, we both played well and it was a good match."

Teenager Gawad revelled in his glass court debut: "I've wanted to play on a court like this in an event like this against the best in the world since I was eight!"

In the quarter-finals, Ashour will face his third fellow countryman in the event after unseeded Egyptian Omar Mosaad battled for 95 minutes to overcome fellow non-seed Farhan Mehboob, a 21-year-old Pakistani ranked nine places lower, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6.

"I'm very happy to win today," said Mosaad, the 22-year-old world No22. "The first time in my life in the quarters of such a big event.

"Farhan is very good, very fast and fast hands. I was lucky to win the first, but then I was leading the second and lost. There was a lot of stopping in the third and the fourth, in the fifth I just had to start again and focus."

Frenchman Gregory Gaultier stopped the Egyptian march through to the last eight when he beat 19-year-old Alexandrian Mohamed El Shorbagy. But the No4 seed dropped the opening game to ninth seed El Shorbagy before taking control to close out the match 11-13, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10.

"I was prepared to play tomorrow," said the relieved former world number one from Aix-en-Provence after his 78-minute victory.

"There were problems with the floor, and I got on an hour and a half late after warming up twenty times. I didn't realise it until after we started, but my legs felt heavy, my fitness wasn't there, so I just had to dig in."

In the final match of the day, England's James Willstrop - one of a number of players who flew straight to Egypt following ten days of Commonwealth Games action in Delhi - despatched Egypt's Mohd Ali Anwar Reda 11-6, 11-3, 11-8.

Outstanding 2nd round line-up:
[6] Peter Barker (ENG) v [13] Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[3] Karim Darwish (EGY) v [12] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)
[7] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [Q] Chris Ryder (ENG)
[2] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [15] Ong Beng Hee (MAS)