Hisham Survives Florida Opener

Hisham Mohd Ashour, the flamboyant older brother of World No.1 Ramy Ashour, celebrated his return to the PSA World Tour after a seven-month break by winning his opening match in the 5th Annual Betty F Griffin Florida State Open Squash Championship in Boca Raton in the US state of Florida.

Seeded four, the Cairo-born 31-year-old defeated Jordan qualifier Ahmad Alzabidi 11-7, 12-14, 11-7, 11-7 in the first round of the PSA Challenger 10 event at the Lifetime Athletic Club, the final event of the year in the U.S. Pro Squash Series.

"The front walls were too fast that I couldn't make my drops as effective as I would have liked," said the US-based Ashour later. "I'm going to have to work on some different shots to close out some of these points in the upcoming games."

Ashour now faces Graeme Schnell, a Canadian qualifier who upset Joe Chapman, of the British Virgin Islands, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 11-4.

Another significant upset saw English wildcard Reuben Phillips prevail against the odds. The 21-year-old from London, ranked 148 in the world, fought back from a game down to beat No.3 seed Yasir Ali Butt, the World No.74 from Pakistan, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-6.

But Qatar teenager Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi staged the biggest comeback to defeat Arturo Salazar. From two games down, the 18-year-old from Doha battled back to draw level, then clinched the decider to beat the higher-ranked Mexican 4-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2, 11-7.

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Alfredo Avila (MEX) v Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)
[4] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) v [Q] Graeme Schnell (CAN)
[WC] Reuben Phillips (ENG) v Johan Bouquet (FRA)
[2] Farhan Zaman (PAK) v Eric Galvez (MEX)