Top two Aussie men through in Cairo

18-May-2010 - Squash Australia

Australia’s top two men’s squash players moved into the second round of the prestigious Sky Open in Cairo with convincing first round victories on Monday.
Lithgow’s David Palmer (pictured) crushed Englishman Tom Richards 11-7, 11-5, 11-2 while Pilley, from Yamba in northern New South Wales, saw off dangerous Pakistani Aamir Atlas Khan in four games 9-11, 11-2, 11-1, 11-6.
But Ryan Cuskelly, who had to win through two rounds of qualifying to make the main draw, battled hard against 12th seeded Egyptian Wael El Hindi before falling in three close games 11-8, 11-9, 11-9.
The two remaining Australians both face tough second round matches against higher ranked players.
Palmer takes on Egypt’s world number four Karim Darwish in a battle of the former world number ones, and Pilley is up against another ex-number one in Frenchman Gregory Gaultier.
 The Sky Open is the third tournament of the elite PSA Super Series, which features 10 tournaments across the world with the top eight ranked players qualifying for the season-ending Super Series Finals.
The 2010 Australian Open, to be held in Canberra from August 9-15, is part of the Super Series for the first time this year.
Palmer is currently seventh on the Super Series rankings with Hobart’s Aaron Frankcomb, who did not travel to Cairo this week, in 15th position.

First round results – prefix denotes seeding:

1-Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt 16-Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-2 
5-James Willstrop (ENG) bt Hisham Ashour (EGY) 12-10, 12-10, 11-3
Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt 9-Daryl Selby (ENG) 5-11, 11-7, 11-2, 9-11, 11-4 
4-Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Dylan Bennett (NED) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7
10-David Palmer (AUS) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 11-7, 11-5, 11-2 
6-Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 11-3, 11-9, 12-10 
15-Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 9-11, 11-2, 11-1, 11-6 
14-Alister Walker (ENG) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 
7-Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4
12-Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 
3-Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Karim Samy (EGY) 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7 
13-Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Ali Farag (EGY) 6-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4
8-Peter Barker (ENG) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 11-6, 11-6, 11-7
11-Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-3
2-Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 11-5, 11-6, 11-9