Farag Fights Into Cairo Qualifying Finals

Egyptian teenager Ali Farag pulled off a remarkable win in the Sky Open in his home country to earn a surprise place in the qualifying finals of the $147,500 PSA Tour event - the first Super Series Platinum championship of the year - at Sky Petrosport Club in Cairo.

Ranked 316 in the world and in his first year as a PSA member, 17-year-old Farag stemmed a fightback by Aaron Frankcomb to beat the world No39 from Australia 13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 10-12, 11-7 in 76 minutes.

"This is my best win ever," Farag told www.squashsite.co.uk afterwards.

The teenager will now face Campbell Grayson after the world No53 from New Zealand comfortably beat Egyptian Ahmed Hawas 11-3, 13-11, 11-4.

Grayson's fellow countryman Martin Knight suffered at the hands of another young Egyptian in the other upset on the opening day of qualifying action in Cairo.

Knight, the world No51 from Wellington - who, like Campbell, qualified for last week's internationalSPORTgroup British Open in England - took the opening game against Omar Abdel Meguid.

But the 21-year-old from Giza, ranked more than 150 places lower, battled back to beat the Kiwi 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6.

Meguid will now face England's Tom Richards for a place in the main draw.

1st qualifying round:
Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt Mazen Gamal (EGY) 11-3, 11-7, 12-10 (28m)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt Wade Johnstone (AUS) 11-1, 11-8, 11-6 (30m)
Mark Krajcsak (HUN) bt Wael Farag (EGY) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 (29m)
Gilly Lane (USA) bt Islam El Fiky (EGY) 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 (22m)
Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt Amr Khaled Khalifa (EGY) 11-3, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4 (50m)
Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) 11-8, 11-6, 3-11, 11-9 (49m)
Ali Farag (EGY) bt Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 10-12, 11-7 (76m)
Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt Ahmed Hawas (EGY) 11-3, 13-11, 11-4 (35m)
Robbie Temple (ENG) bt Amr Mansi (EGY) 11-1, 11-6, 11-7 (16m)
Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 12-10, 11-4, 11-4 (43m)
Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Martin Knight (NZL) 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6
Tom Richards (ENG) bt Mohamed El Kady (EGY) 11-2, 11-0, 11-7 (28m)
Stephane Galifi (ITA) bt Basem Makram (EGY) 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 (27m)
Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 12-10, 11-5, 11-6
Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Karim Ali Fathy (EGY) 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 (27m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Mohd Sayed Mahmoud Aly (EGY) 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-1 (66m)