Elshorbagy Makes Winning Start On Home Soil

Bidding to win his first major PSA World Tour title on home soil for more than two years, Egypt's world No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy successfully overcame his opening hurdle at the CIB Black Ball Open in the capital Cairo.

2018 Hong Kong Open champion Elshorbagy had to be at his best in the second round of the PSA World Tour Platinum event at the Black Ball Sporting Club to conquer a resilient Max Lee of Hong Kong.

However, it was the number one seed who prevailed in front of his home crowd by an 11-7, 13-11, 2-11, 12-10 scoreline to book his place in the last 16.

"I had to be sharp and any loose shots I played today he took full advantage of and he showed what a great player he is," said the reigning World Champion afterwards. "He is such a great talent and it was never easy from the first point. I'm just glad I pulled through in the end because that fourth game could have slipped away.

"I've had a good start to the season, maybe I've had a few dips at a couple of tournaments, but Hong Kong got me back on track again. I'm coming here, and I want to try and play my best squash."

Elshorbagy will now face Malaysia's Eain Yow Ng after the 20-year-old secured another big win when he defeated New Zealand's Campbell Grayson in straight games.

"Every game I was leading, and Campbell kept coming back really strongly," said the young Malaysian. "I had to stay focused and I feel like I did that well today. I'm happy to go through in three and hopefully be fresh for the next round."

Elsewhere at the Cairo club, Peru's world No.11 Diego Elias claimed a 3/1 win over Switzerland's world No.20 Nicolas Mueller to set up a rematch with Egypt's Karim Abdel Gawad.

Gawad - who defeated Hong Kong's Yip Tsz Fung in straight games in round two - beat Elias in the final of the Pakistan Open over the weekend to lift his 19th PSA title.

"I'm looking forward to playing Gawad on Thursday, so I can get my revenge," said the Peruvian after his confident win. "He played really well on Sunday, I think he played so well that I didn't know what to do but I know what to expect now and I'm prepared for that."

There was also joy for England's unseeded George Parker who continued his strong start to the season by reaching the last 16 in Cairo, courtesy of a 3/1 win over Egypt's Karim El Hammamy - who had caused an upset in the previous round by knocking out compatriot Mazen Hesham.

"All credit to Karim - he's such a good counter player and makes you hit a lot of balls to the front," said the 22-year-old Englishman. "Sometimes you see your margin go down and you start to hit tins and lose your head but luckily I managed to hit a lot more winners than tins today and I just dug in."

Parker will now face world No.10 Mohamed Abouelghar for a place in the quarter-finals after the Egyptian defeated wildcard Shehab Essam by an 11-3, 11-8, 11-7 margin.

"I just made sure I played simple squash and nothing too fancy and I'm happy with the way I played," said Abouelghar.

"I don't have a good history in Egypt. I'm coming into this tournament confident and I'm playing well. I worked on a lot of things over the summer and I'm glad to see that they are paying off and I hope I can break the losing streak here."

Germany's Raphael Kandra also marched through to the third round, beating England's former world No.12 Tom Richards by a 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 scoreline in 44 minutes to set up a last 16 tie with world No.4 Tarek Momen, after the Egyptian prevailed in a four-game encounter with Australia's Ryan Cuskelly.