Resurgent Ramy Progresses In Windy City Open

Egypt's world No4 Ramy Ashour fought from a game down to record a 3/1 win over Australian Cameron Pilley in the opening round of the 2014 METROsquash Windy City Open, the second PSA World Series squash event of the year in Chicago.

The former world No1 was returning to World Series action for the first time since the 2013 Hong Kong Open in December, when injury ended his tournament prematurely. Ashour quickly found himself down against Pilley before showing his class to come through 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-3.

The maverick from Cairo displayed some magical touches on court while showing no signs of ill effects from his recent injury-plagued run.

"Cameron is a great player who really pushes you to be at your best and he's a very big hitter as well," said the 26-year-old No3 seed.

"He came out firing today and won the first game and I had to work hard to try and contain him and I'm glad I managed to do that and come through the match.

"I have a day off now and I need to make sure I look after my body. My recovery has been going steady so far and for me it's now a matter of working on my mental organisation.

"I need to work on organising my routine, what I'm eating and how I am on court and hopefully it will continue steadily."

After winning the opening PSA World Series event of 2014, the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York in January, Egyptian Amr Shabana began his Windy City Open title bid in impressive fashion.

The world No9 despatched English qualifier Adrian Waller 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 in just 35 minutes to book his place in the second round where he will face English rival James Willstrop.

"Any time you win a match you are happy," said Shabana.

"In the first round you never really know what will happen so I was just pleased to come through.

"I had a good run in New York to win the ToC but you try not to think about things like that. I'm just happy to be injury-free at the moment and hopefully I can take the momentum forward and I'll just take the rest of the tournament match by match."

France's Mathieu Castagnet pulled off a notable upset when he beat Botswana's Alister Walker in straight games. Castagnet, hovering just outside the world top 20 at a career-high 21, celebrated his first ever win over US-based Walker, a world top 20 fixture for the last five years, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9 victory in 57 minutes.