Codina Blasts Into Barcelona Draw

Spain's unranked Albert Codina upset Italian Andrea Bianchetti 11-6 11-6 11-9 in the qualifying finals of the Ciutat de Barcelona Open in Barcelona to earn an unexpected place in the first round of this established PSA Tour event in Spain.

Zimbabwe's Jesse Engelbrecht also upset the qualifying seedings with an 11-4 10-11 10-11 11-9 11-1 dismissal of England's Ashley Flathers.

Qualifying finals:
Stefan Leifels (GER) bt Iago Cornes (ESP) 11-9, 11-9, 11-8
Albert Codina (ESP) bt Andrea Bianchetti (ITA) 11-6, 11-6, 11-9
Julien Balbo (FRA) bt David Barnett (ENG) 11-8, 10-11 (1-3), 9-11, 11-7, 11-5
Jesse Engelbrecht (ZIM) bt Ashley Flathers (ENG) 11-4, 10-11 (3-5), 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 11-1

Updated 1st round draw:
[1] Mohamed Essam A Hafiz (EGY) v Andrew Whipp (ENG)
[7] Phillip Barker (ENG) v [Q] Jesse Engelbrecht (ZIM)
[3] Peter Genever (ENG) v Laurent Elriani (FRA)
[5] Scott Handley (ENG) v [Q] Stefan Leifels (GER)
[8] Christian Drakenberg (SWE) v Duncan Walsh (ENG)
[4] Stacey Ross (ENG) v [Q] Albert Codina (ESP)
[6] Stephane Galifi (FRA) v Oriol Salvia (ESP)
[2] Alex Stait (ENG) v [Q] Julien Balbo (FRA)