Egyptians Flourish In Dayton

Egyptian players flourished on the opening day of first round action in the EBS Dayton Open in Dayton, in the US state of Ohio.

Omneya Abdel Kawy, from Cairo, survived a close first game in the women's first round against Guyana qualifier Nicolette Fernandes. But the No2 seed recovered to win 10-8 9-3 9-1 and will now go on to face Australia's eighth seed Kasey Brown for a place in the semi-finals.

England's Linda Elriani, the event favourite, beat Canada's Alana Miller 9-1 9-0 9-5 to set up a quarter-final clash with English compatriot Rebecca Botwright, the sixth seed.

Brothers Ramy Ashour and Hisham Mohd Ashour, from Cairo, came through the qualifying finals in straight games to earn places in the main draw of the men's event. Ramy, the 18-year-old world junior champion, defeated experienced Frenchman Laurent Elriani 11-2 11-6 11-9, while his older brother Hisham, aged 23, beat USA's Jamie Crombie 11-6 11-8 11-3.

Ramy is drawn to face Malaysia's No3 seed Ong Beng Hee in the main draw first round, and Hisham will meet fellow Egyptian Mohammed Abbas, the fifth seed and runner-up in 2004.

Scotland's John White is favourite the win the men's Dayton Open title. The world No10 begins his challenge against England's Mark Chaloner.

Women's 1st round:
[1] Linda Elriani (ENG) bt Alana Miller (CAN) 9-1, 9-0, 9-5
[6] Rebecca Botwright (ENG) bt Katie Patrick (CAN) 9-0, 9-5, 9-4
[3] Fiona Geaves (ENG) bt [Q] Orla Noom (NED) 9-5, 9-0, 9-3
[7] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt [Q] Lauren Siddall (ENG) 9-2, 9-4, 9-5
[5] Sharon Wee (MAS) bt Manuela Manetta (ITA) 9-7, 9-7, 9-10, 9-2
[4] Pamela Nimmo (SCO) bt Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) 9-0, 10-8, 9-5
[8] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt [Q] Karen Kronemeyer (NED) 9-1, 9-6, 9-6
[2] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [Q] Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) 10-8, 9-3, 9-1

Men's qualifying finals:
Gavin Jones (WAL) bt Nicholas Kyme (BER) 11-1, 11-5, 11-5
Stacey Ross (ENG) bt Mark Heather (ENG) 11-8, 2-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9
Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Laurent Elriani (FRA) 11-2, 11-6, 11-9
Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt Jamie Crombie (USA) 11-6, 11-8, 11-3