Farag Ends Gaultier's Career-Best Tour Streak

Egyptian Ali Farag, a late addition to the men's draw for the 2016/17 PSA Dubai World Series Finals, ended world number one Gregory Gaultier's career-best 27-match unbeaten run on the opening day of action in the prestigious season-ending event staged at Dubai Opera.

It was a day of shocks when both World Champions Karim Abdel Gawad and Nour El Sherbini were defeated in the event which brings together the top eight players on the Men's and Women's PSA Road to Dubai Standings - who are then split into two groups of four as they battle for points to qualify for the knockout semi-finals and beyond.

Defending champion Gaultier had lost just once in 2017, claiming six titles in a row, which included victories over Farag in the finals of the Grasshopper Cup and Bellevue Classic.

However, a superb display from the Egyptian - who replaced injured compatriot Ramy Ashour in the draw - against an admittedly out-of-sorts Gaultier saw the 25-year-old dominate the Frenchman in a way that few have managed over the past six months to claim a huge win.

"The last two times I didn't even take one game, so to win today in two games was surprising to even myself," said Farag, who was making his World Series Finals debut.

"I think I played very well and towards the end I was very edgy because I was 10-6 up in Seattle against him. When he lets loose he plays even better, so I was always on my toes and I'm very happy to win in two today.

"It's my first World Series Finals, I'm playing best of three for the first time in my life and I didn't know what to expect. To get off to a good start is crucial and it gave me a lot of confidence."

In his second pool match, Gaultier will take on former world No.1 James Willstrop - who lost out to world No.3 Mohamed Elshorbagy. Farag will take on Elshorbagy as both players look to take a step closer to qualification from Group B.

Gawad had never before lost to Simon Rösner - but the best-of-three games format , which is used in place of the normal best-of-five games scoring up until the final - looked to play into the German's hands as he claimed an impressive 11-9, 8-11, 11-7 victory in 48 minutes.

"We played some incredible squash today, I thought I managed to play aggressively and at the same time I didn't make too many errors, which really helped," said Rösner.

"Even though I was down a few times, I didn't let it go, I just tried to hang in there and made it as tough as I could for him. I think that the key was the aggressive game plan, but I also kept the error count really low.

"The whole group is so strong and the whole event is so open. Anything can happen, you can finish first, you can finish last, but with my win today I got one step closer to making the semis."

Rösner sits at the top of Group A along with Marwan Elshorbagy, who recovered from a game down to defeat three-time England's World Champion Nick Matthew.

The Women's event saw England's world No.7 Sarah-Jane Perry claim her first ever win over El Sherbini at the fifth attempt, with a superlative performance which saw the 27-year-old fight back from a game down.

El Sherbini took the opener, but Perry - who qualified for the World Series Finals after the greatest season of her career saw her reach the final of the British Open three months ago - refused to be beaten and she came out fighting, taking the next two games to leave El Sherbini needing a win in her next match with Malaysia's Nicol David.

"I'm feeling pretty amazing, I think this is the first time I've beaten Nour, but it's also the first time that I've beaten the current world No.1," Perry said.

"I've earned my place here, especially in the second half of the season and I want to be a contender. If I play well and move well on the day then I believe that I can beat anyone."

Defending champion Laura Massaro also won on day one against eight-time World Champion David - and twice winner of the women's World Series Finals title - in the latest chapter of their PSA World Tour rivalry.

The match started tentatively, with both players making errors, but it soon developed into a free-flowing affair, with Massaro fighting back from three game balls down to take the first game by a 12-10 margin and she claimed the second game by the same scoreline to move to the top of Group B.

"I didn't realise no one else had dropped a game, it was tight and in that second game when I was in front I was thinking that I would be gutted if I lost that one and it went to three," said Massaro, who takes on compatriot Perry next.

"I'm really happy to close it out in the end. You know you've got three matches either way and you've got to do your best in all of them. If I lost today I would have had a bit of an uphill battle tomorrow and the day after, but a win under my belt doesn't mean anything at this point unless I can get at least one more win."

Group A saw top seed Camille Serme recover from a game down against England's Alison Waters, while World Junior Champion Nouran Gohar defeated World No.2 Raneem El Welily.