Kahn Punishes Pilley In Major Wolverhampton Upset

Unseeded Pakistani teenager Aamir Atlas Khan caused the biggest upset in the opening round of the Wolverhampton Open when he despatched Cameron Pilley, the third seed from Australia, to reach the quarter-finals of the $30,000 PSA Tour squash event in its third year at Wolverhampton LT&SC in Wolverhampton, England.

The 18-year-old from Peshawar, ranked 15 places below Pilley, produced the shock of the night with his 11-5, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7 defeat of the world No19 from New South Wales

Khan, a nephew of the record eight-time World Open champion Jansher Khan, will now face New Zealander Kashif Khan after England's No5 seed Joey Barrington was forced to retire injured at 11-6, 3-11, 11-9.

English favourite Adrian Grant, the world No13 who reached the semi-finals of the event in 2007, had to work hard to overcome qualifier and World Junior champion Mohamed El Shorbagy of Egypt 14-12, 11-7, 3-11, 11-7 in 63 minutes.

Shorbagy, who had reached the first round via a relatively straightforward qualifying competition, played well to take the first game to a tie-break before conceding the second 11-7. In the third, the talented 17-year-old attacked his experienced opponent with forceful drives and volleys to capture the game before Grant countered with almost faultless squash to close-out the match for the loss of a further seven points.

Ben Ford, who also claimed his place in the main draw via the qualification competition, with two unexpected wins over Pakistan's Shahid Zaman and fellow Englishman Stacey Ross, failed to progress to the quarter-finals after losing 7-11, 8-11, 3-11 to No4 seed Renan Lavigne of France. Alister Walker eased through to the second round with a resounding 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 win over Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan.

Italy's Davide Bianchetti had a controversial match with Stephen Coppinger. Trailing 2/1 and 0-3 Bianchetti received a third conduct point, followed by a conduct game for continuing dissent - resulting in the South African winning the match 13-11, 5-11, 11-1, 0-3 (conduct game awarded).

1st round:
[1] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) 14-12, 11-7, 3-11, 11-7 (63m)
[6] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt [Q] Martin Knight (NZL) 11-2, 11-6, 11-5 (29m)
[4] Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt [Q] Ben Ford (ENG) 11-7, 11-8, 11-3 (32m)
[8] Alister Walker (ENG) bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (33m)
Kashif Shuja (NZL) bt [5] Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-6, 3-11, 11-9 ret. (33m)
Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [3] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-5, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7 (53m)
[Q] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [7] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 13-11, 5-11, 11-1, 3-0 (disq.) (57m)
[2] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 (28m)