Zakaria Ousts Makin On Day Of Seedings Collapse In Doha

Egypt's world No.14 Mohamad Zakaria earned the biggest win of his career after taking out world No.4 Joel Makin on a day which saw eight of the top 16 seeds exit the Platinum-level QTerminals Qatar Classic in round one.

Zakaria had lost out to No.3 seed Makin in the third round of the CIB Egyptian Open earlier this month but dominated proceedings at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, winning 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 in 67 minutes to score his first win over a player inside the world's top four.

"I'm over the moon, as soon as I lost the match against him in Giza, I started training with [former world No.1] Jonathon Power for this match," said 18-year-old Zakaria afterwards.

"The plan we had worked so well, I was more attacking, more positive, and I brought the game to him. I was so happy with my short game and I did very well today.

"The Platinum events now are so tricky, anyone can play anyone, and it's more edgy, I knew the draw was open going in and I liked how I took the opportunity today, I was very sharp from the beginning. This is the biggest win of my career, I've been waiting for a big win on the glass."

Zakaria will go up against Englishman Jonah Bryant in the last 16, with Bryant beating Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller.

Egypt's Youssef Ibrahim is also through after upsetting world No.6 Marwan ElShorbagy, winning 16-14, 11-7, 12-10.

No.4 seed ElShorbagy held a 9-8 lead in the third game, but two strokes against the Englishman quickly handed the momentum back to Ibrahim, with the second stroke being given against ElShorbagy due to dissent. Ibrahim then converted to set up a second round match with ElShorbagy's fellow Englishman, Curtis Malik.

"I'm very pleased with the way everything went, the first game was very important for both of us," Ibrahim said.

"It's a very tricky court, but we both managed to perform our best, especially in the first game. It was a mental battle with Marwan and I'm very happy with the way I handled the big points, I didn't make many errors. I didn't want to have too many interactions with the referee and I think that's what made the difference."

Karim Gawad and Mohamed ElShorbagy, two former champions, saw their events come to an end against lower-ranked opposition. Gawad fell to India's Abhay Singh, while ElShorbagy lost out to Spain's Iker Pajares.

In the women's event, Malaysia's Aira Azman got the better of No.5 seed Satomi Watanabe, while No.8 seed Georgina Kennedy saw her tournament come to an end against France's Melissa Alves.

Azman came back from two games down against Watanabe to claim her first win over the world No.6 to reach the Qatar Classic last 16 for the first time.

"I'm very happy with the way I played today, I always seem to go 2/0 down and then get ready to play the next three," said Azman, who will play Zeina Mickawy next.

"She came with a good plan, but eventually I reset and focused on my shots and length more. I went back to basics to win the match. I don't remember my previous matches against her, I think they were three years ago when I played my first Platinum event. She's a top player and No.6 in the world, so I've watched a lot of her matches. I'm glad my plan worked today."

USA's world No.4 Olivia Weaver was the other seed to bow out of the tournament after she withdrew from her match against Egypt's Farida Mohamed due to a reoccurrence of the adductor injury that saw her pull out of the London Classic earlier this month.

Defending champion Nour El Sherbini began her tournament with a comfortable 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 win against fellow Egyptian Sana Ibrahim. The eight-time World Champion will play world No.52 Nour Heikal next.

"I'm happy to be back, it's one of the best tournaments, if not the best," said El Sherbini afterwards.

"Coming back to a tournament you won last year, you feel the memories. I love this court and I can't wait to see what's going to happen this week.

"I didn't have the best start to the new season, so I went home, regrouped, and I wanted to get off to a good start here. Sana is an amazing player, it was a tricky first round and she has good hands. I wanted to be more aggressive and play my game more."