Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi of Qatar (left) in action against Nick Matthew of England in Qatar Classic squash championship in Doha yesterday. Pics by: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula
Top seed Mohamed El Shorbagy of Egypt and seasoned campaigner Nick Matthew of England were stretched to their limits in their first round matches of the Qatar Classic 2016 while India’s Saurav Ghosal lost to qualifier Alan Clyne of Scotland here yesterday.
The Egyptian maverick aiming to win his third successive Qatar Classic title moved into the second round with 3-2 win over Diego Elias of Peru.
The unseeded Elias took the second and fourth games to tie the scores at 2-all but the Egyptian stormed to take the decider at 11-5 and win the match in 63 minutes.
El Shorbagy was the only one who had to an extra mile to move into the second round, Matthew who has been on the circuit for long was given a few headches by Qatar’s upcoming star Abdulla Al Tamimi before going down fighting 3-2 in the first round action. The Englishman started with a bang wining the first two but Tamimi backed by a home crowd bounced back to take the next two, sending a few shivers in the Matthew camp.
But Matthew finished off winning the decider two win at 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9 in 71 minutes.
Elsewhere, qualifier Alan Clyne Scotland got past Saurav Ghosal of India 12-10, 9-11, 11-7, 11-1 in 46 minutes.
