Egyptian Favourites Succeed In Contrasting Season Openers

Top seeds Karim Darwish and Omneya Abdel Kawy, both from Cairo in Egypt, won their first round matches in the Marsh & McLennan Apawamis Open to begin their new year on the international circuit in contrasting styles in Rye, New York.

Darwish, the world No8 whose victory in the event last year began a run of three successive titles on the PSA Tour, was twice pegged back by unseeded Canadian Shahier Razik before scrambling to a 11-9 5-11 11-4 10-11 11-6 victory.

Kawy, however, was less troubled by her Canadian opponent in the first round of the women's event. The 19-year-old world junior champion sauntered to a 9-1 9-2 9-3 win over qualifier Melanie Jans Burke to set up a quarter-final meeting with USA's Latasha Khan.

Men's 1st round:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-9, 5-11, 11-4, 10-11 (1-3), 11-6
Bradley Ball (ENG) bt [7] Alex Gough (WAL) 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-3
[3] Dan Jenson (AUS) bt [Q] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-10, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9
[6] Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt [Q] Mark Heather (ENG) 11-10, 10-11, 11-6, 11-7
[Q] Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) bt [8] Shahid Zaman (PAK) 11-6, 11-10, 11-6
[4] Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt [Q] Raj Nanda (AUS) 11-2, 10-11, 11-4, 11-9
[5] Mark Chaloner (ENG) bt Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-5, 11-10 (2-0), 11-3
[2] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt Gavin Jones (WAL) 11-4, 11-4, 11-2

Women's 1st round:
[1] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [Q] Melanie Jans Burke (CAN) 9-1, 9-2, 9-3
[7] Latasha Khan (USA) bt Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 9-7, 4-9, 2-9, 9-4, 9-5
[4] Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) bt [Q] Tara Mullins (CAN) 9-1, 9-4, 9-5
[6] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) bt Rebecca Botwright (ENG) 9-1, 10-8, 9-4
[Q] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt [8] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) 7-9, 9-7, 9-6, 4-9, 9-2
[3] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [Q] Alana Miller (CAN) 6-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-6, 10-8
[5] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt Melissa Martin (AUS) 9-3, 9-6, 5-9, 9-5
[2] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt Heidi Mather (AUS) 9-6, 9-3, 9-2