Ghosal & Hesham Stun Seeds In El Gouna

Egyptian qualifier Mazen Hesham delighted the home crowd at the 2015 El Gouna International, the third PSA World Series event of the year, with a stunning 3/1 win over world No.10 Simon Rösner during the opening day of action at the Red Sea resort.

Hesham, the maverick and unpredictable world No.30, produced a mercurial display as he out-gunned Rösner from the start, executing an array of incredible winners whilst keeping his error count low to deny the powerful man from Paderborn the opportunity to get on the front foot.

"I'm happy with how I played today because I was patient when I needed to be patient and I played the right pace when I needed to," said Hesham.

"Since the beginning of the year I have had a lot of matches where I came very close to winning and then to lose but I'm really happy it all came together here in front of my family and my friends in Egypt."

Hesham will now take on compatriot Mohamed Elshorbagy, the 2014 runner-up, in a mouth-watering second round encounter after the world No.1 progressed after an effortless 3/0 win over Ali Farag, the Egyptian who toppled seeded Gregoire Marche in qualification.

Meanwhile Indian Saurav Ghosal also upset the rankings as he edged a tense affair against Tarek Momen, the world No.7 from Egypt.

Ghosal, the world No.23 from Kolkata, raced out to a two-game lead against a lacklustre Momen before the Egyptian began to find his form. Ghosal squandered several match ball opportunities in the fourth before Momen drew level and looked the dominant player.

But 28-year-old Ghosal managed to withstand some nervy exchanges in the decider to take the match 12-10, 11-1, 7-11, 12-14, 11-9 in 85-minutes to set up a second round encounter with Omar Mosaad.

"We're both similar players in the way we move and the amount of attacking play we instinctively like to play so it makes for an entertaining match and we tend to play well against each other," said Ghosal.

"Tarek showed real guts to come back when I was 2/0 up today and he played unbelievably in the fourth game especially. I'm really happy to have played so well against him and to have gotten the win against a top-ranked player.

"I don't think I played badly on any of those match ball points but I was ecstatic to stick one on the wall and win the match in the fifth game."