Barrington Beats Beachill In Saudi Surprise

England's Joey Barrington twice recovered from a game down to beat compatriot Lee Beachill in the biggest upset on the opening day of action in the Saudi International, the final major international squash event of the year in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Beachill, a quarter-finalist in this PSA Super Series Platinum event a year ago, was looking for a good run in the event to capture a late place in next year's Super Series Finals - the eight-man event which features the top eight players from this year's PSA Super Series tournaments, in which the 29-year-old Yorkshireman has competed for the past four years.

But his opponent, son of the illustrious six-times British Open champion Jonah Barrington, was determined to make the most of the qualifying slot he earned in September, after losing out at the first round stage in the inaugural event in 2005.

Barrington, 26, from Glastonbury in Somerset, battled for 76 minutes to achieve his impressive 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 upset over the England international, ranked 10 in the world. His next opponent will be another fellow Englishman - and Pontefract stable-mate of Lee Beachill - James Willstrop, who eased to an 11-3, 11-3, 11-7 win over Canada's Shahier Razik.

At the end of a long, and surprisingly rain-soaked, day in Saudi Arabia, Egyptian qualifier Hisham Mohd Ashour also claimed a seed scalp when he beat No10 seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-10 (5-3), 11-8, 10-11 (0-2), 11-6 in 45 minutes. It was the end of a disappointing week for the Malaysian who was beaten into second place in the Asian Games championship in Qatar 48 hours earlier.

1st round:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-2, 11-6, 11-5 (30m)
[16] Alex Gough (WAL) bt [Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 11-10 (7-5), 11-5, 11-8 (56m)
[8] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Ramy Ashour (EGY) 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 11-6 (51m)
[15] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt Peter Barker (ENG) 10-11 (0-2), 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 (42m)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-3, 11-3, 11-7 (37m)
[Q] Joey Barrington (ENG) bt [9] Lee Beachill (ENG) 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 (76m)
[5] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [Q] Shahid Zaman (PAK) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (22m)
[12] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Mohammed Taher Al-Saif (KSA) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 (24m)
[Q] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt [10] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 11-10 (5-3), 11-8, 10-11 (0-2), 11-6 (45m)
[7] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Simon Parke (ENG) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 (44m)
[14] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 1-11, 6-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-5, 11-10 (2-0) (94m)
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 (47m)
[13] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt [Q] Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 (39m)
[6] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [Q] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7 (52m)
[11] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt [Q] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8 (63m)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) bt Jonathan Kemp (ENG) 11-7, 10-11 (1-3), 11-5, 11-8 (46m)