Mixed Fortunes For Locals In British Open Qualifiers

Only five Englishmen survived the first day of men's qualifying action in the Dunlop British Open - and two did so after receiving byes when three players failed to make the deadline after being held up in traffic on the way to the National Squash Centre at Sportcity in Manchester.

Experienced Surrey player Stacey Ross, looking to make his third appearance in the world-famous event, eased to an 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 victory over compatriot Joel Hinds - while Gloucestershire's Leeds-based Jonathan Harford despatched fellow Englishman James Snell 11-2, 11-10 (2-0), 11-6. The pair will now meet in the qualifying finals to guarantee one further Englishman in the main draw.

The first winner of the day was Dylan Bennett, of the Netherlands, who beat 'local' Chris Fuller - immediately followed by the quickest win of the day for Daryl Selby after fellow Englishman Alex Stait decided, after three points of the second game, that the bug he started suffering from the previous evening had taken too much out of him!

Irishman John Rooney claimed the only upset of the day when he recovered from a game down to beat England's former European Junior champion Chris Simpson 9-11, 11-1, 11-3, 11-4.

Rooney, 27, from Galway, will now face Australian Bradley Hindle in a bid to make his British Open debut. Hindle survived the longest match of the day, beating England's Shaun le Roux 10-11 (0-2), 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9 in 75 minutes in a match that was fiercely contested from start to end.

There was disappointment for the two English players that battled through five rounds of the pre-qualifying tournament to win places in the qualifying draw. Eddie Charlton went down 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 to Italy's Davide Bianchetti, while James Snell lost out to Jonathan Harford.

1st qualifying round:
Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bye
Yasir Butt (PAK) bt Stuart Crawford (SCO) 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3 (56m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Alan Clyne (SCO) 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 (33m)
Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-5, 11-3, 11-10 (3-1) (55m)
Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt Eddie Charlton (ENG) 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (38m)
Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt Tom Hoevenaars (NED) 11-9, 11-10 (5-3), 11-6 (36m)
Stacey Ross (ENG) bt Joel Hinds (ENG) 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 (37m)
Jonathan Harford (ENG) bt James Snell (ENG) 11-2, 11-10 (2-0), 11-6 (28m)
Julien Balbo (FRA) bt David Barnett (ENG) 11-4, 11-8, 11-7 (36m)
Dylan Bennett (NED) bt Chris Fuller (ENG) 11-6, 11-1, 11-2 (26m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt Tom Pashley (ENG) 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 (27m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Alex Stait (ENG) 11-5, 3-0 ret.
Bradley Hindle (AUS) bt Shaun le Roux (ENG) 10-11 (0-2), 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9 (75m)
John Rooney (IRL) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 9-11, 11-1, 11-3, 11-4 (43m)
Farhan Mehboob (PAK) bt Lewis Walters (ENG) 11-3, 11-9, 11-7 (22m)
Bradley Ball (ENG) bye