Thierry Tested In Pakistan Open Opener

Top seed Thierry Lincou was subjected to the longest test in today's first round action on the opening day of the Bank Alfalah Pakistan Open in Karachi.

It took the world number one from France 36 minutes to overcome England's unseeded Bradley Ball 10-11 11-2 11-5 11-10 to set up a second round meeting with Pakistan's highest-ranked player Shahid Zaman.

By contrast, the twelfth seed from Quetta took exactly half as long as the favourite to earn his first round victory, beating unranked local qualifier Aqib Hanif 11-7 11-5 11-4 in just 18 minutes.

An even swifter win was achieved by Egypt's seventh seed Karim Darwish, who out-pointed another Pakistani qualifier Safeer Ullah Khan 11-5 11-5 11-3 in a mere 17 minutes. Darwish, the world junior champion in 2000, will take on his predecessor Ong Beng Hee, the tenth-seeded Malaysian who beat the reigning world junior champion Ramy Ashour 11-9 11-6 1-11 11-6 in 34 minutes.

Beng Hee is joined in the last sixteen of the PSA Super Series event by compatriot Mohd Azlan Iskandar, the 13th seed who beat Englishman Jonathan Kemp 11-8 11-10 11-7. Iskandar will now face another Englishman Nick Matthew, the sixth seed, for a place in the quarter-finals.

1st round:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Bradley Ball (ENG) 10-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-10 (36m)
[12] Shahid Zaman (PAK) bt [Q] Aqib Hanif (PAK) 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (18m)
[7] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Safeer Ullah Khan (PAK) 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 (17m)
[10] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt [Q] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 11-9, 11-6, 1-11, 11-6 (34m)
[4] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt [Q] Shamsul Islam Khan (PAK) 11-2, 11-5, 11-9 (21m)
[14] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 (23m)
[6] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [Q] Dylan Bennett (NED) 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-2 (32m)
[13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Jonathan Kemp (ENG) 11-8, 11-10, 11-7 (28m)