Mickawy & ElSherbini Lead Home Success on Opening Day of Palm Hills Open

World No.29 Zeina Mickawy and world No.33 Mohamed ElSherbini led a series of home successes on an entertaining opening day at the inaugural Palm Hills Open in Cairo.

The PSA Squash Tour Gold event got underway across the Palm Hills Club and the showpiece all-glass court at Golf Central Mall, with the home crowds treated to nine Egyptian winners across the two venues.

Mickawy, 26, had lost out in the first round of her last three events on the PSA Squash Tour, but recovered admirably from 2/1 down to defeat compatriot Nadine Shahin in just under 45 minutes of play.

After a hit-and-miss opening three games in which both players went in short to differing success, it was Mickawy who upped her accuracy levels to firstly force a decider, and then move through to claim an 11-6, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-6 victory.

After the match, Mickawy said: "Of course, I feel very relieved. Nadine is such a fighter. We've been competing since we were in juniors and I knew it was going to be a very tough match, both mentally and physically.

"I have lost in my last three tournaments in the first round and I was so mad at myself. This time I said that it wouldn't be another time and that I wouldn't come out of here losing in front of my family and friends."

Meanwhile, fellow Egyptian ElSherbini held off a stern examination from wildcard Mohamed Gohar - the younger brother of world No.1 Nouran Gohar - to book his spot in the second-round in four games.

Despite sitting 168 places behind ElSherbini in the current World Rankings, Gohar matched the levels of his opponents for large portions of the 53-minute encounter, but ultimately came up short in the pivotal, closing periods of the match.

Elsewhere on day one, England's Curtis Malik held off Hong Kong's Henry Leung in five games, and Egyptian duo Kenzy Ayman and Yahya Elnawasany claimed ranking upsets over Salma Eltayeb and Balazs Farkas, respectively.