Koukal Continues Czech Charge

A few days after winning the Czech Open as a qualifier, local hero Jan Koukal continued his hometown success in Prague by upsetting seventh seed El Iraky Omar Abd El Aziz in the first round of the Petr's Prague Open at Squashpark Cibulka in the Czech Republic capital.

Again a qualifier, Koukal survived one of the longest tie-break games on record when he beat his Egyptian opponent 11-10 (10-8), 11-9, 8-11, 11-7 to take his unexpected place in the last eight.

England's Chris Ryder also claimed a notable upset. The 25-year-old qualifier from Hertfordshire beat France's sixth seed Yann Perrin 11-8 7-11 11-2 11-7.

1st round:
[1] Jesse Engelbrecht (ZIM) bt Fabien Verseille (FRA) 10-11 (1-3), 11-3, 11-7, 11-9
[Q] Chris Ryder (ENG) bt [6] Yann Perrin (FRA) 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 11-7
[4] Rob Sutherland (WAL) bt Andre Haschker (GER) 11-8, 11-10 (5-3), 11-4
[8] Darren Lewis (ENG) bt [Q] Jethro Binns (WAL) 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2
[5] Romain Tenant (FRA) bt Mohamed Elkeiy (EGY) 11-10 (3-1), 11-7, 11-8
[3] Andreas Fuchs (AUT) bt Ondrej Ertl (CZE) 6-11, 11-7, 11-10 (3-1), 11-3
[Q] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [7] El Iraky Omar Abd El Aziz (EGY) 11-10 (10-8), 11-9, 8-11, 11-7
[2] Luca Mastrostefano (ITA) bt [Q] Kristen Johnson (SCO) 5-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8, 6-11, 11-8