Day THREE : Round Two concludes

Round Two continues at the MARIGOLD Singapore Squash Open, with eight matches from the bottom half of the draws. Today’s matches at the OBCB Arena again see eight of yesterday’s winners up against some of the top eight seeds, including New Zealand Open Champion Joelle King and World University Champion Mostafa Asal.

You can Watch Live on SquashTV, check the results on Live Scoring and our Draws page, follow updates on our Social Media, and we’ll have photos going into the gallery all day with match reports and quotes here and a roundup at the end of the day.

Reports and Reaction

Hesham through in entertaining three

Egypt’s Mazen Hesham and Qatar’s Abdulla Al Tamimi locked horns in the last match of the day, and it was the Falcon who got the better of all three games, thanks to a number of unforced errors from Tamimi in the first two games, and a well-timed comeback from 3-8 down in the third.

Sobhy stays strong to beat struggling Kennedy

USA’s Sabrina Sobhy produced the only upset on day three as she beat a physically struggling Georgina Kennedy to reach the Gold event quarter finals in Singapore.

A competitive first game featured some long, intense rallies with both players looking to work the attacking opportunity by finding a solid, consistent length at the back of the court. Sobhy managed to pull ahead in the crucial stages to take the opening game 11-8.

Kennedy has been struggling recently with injury problems and with the seventh seed evidently struggling, Sobhy powered on and continued to move the ball into space to test the movement of Kennedy. The end came quickly for Kennedy as the American moved through the gears to win both second and third games 11-4 to upset the seedings and reach the last 8.

Elias edges past El Sirty

U.S. Open Champion Diego Elias has confidently booked his place in the quarter finals of the MARIGOLD Singapore Squash Open after beating young Egyptian Moustafa El Sirty in three difficult games.

The ‘Peruvian Puma’ seemed to be struggling to find his length in the match and got involved in some traffic around the middle of the court with both players looking to take their space. This seemed to eat more into the mind of the Egyptian as his error count was a lot higher than his opponents.

Elias set up a 2-0 lead and looked sure to be closing the match out in three, but back came the Egyptian. El Sirty fired off amazing winners and dominated the middle of the court, using his size and strength to keep Elias pinned behind him. El Sirty led 9-4 in the third game but momentarily lost concentration which opened the door for the Peruvian. Elias stayed solid, whereas El Sirty seemed to be magnetised to the tin. Severl errors came from the Egyptian’s racket which took the No.3 seed to match ball at 10-9. He converted at the first time of asking to steal the game and take the match.

Perry wins all-British clash

England’s Sarah-Jane Perry overcame fellow Brit Emily Whitlock in the first match of the evenings session on day three.

Wales No.2 Whitlock started in great style and took the game to Perry from the very start of the match. Loose balls from the Englishwoman were being picked off with fantastic winners from Whitlock and the lower ranked player, deservingly, took the first game 11-8.

Perry started to settle in the second game, but the short, sharp rallies were favouring both players allowing the physicality to stay absent in the match and the squash and shots taking centre stage. Perry managed to hang on well in the second game despite more Whitlock pressure and took the game 11-9.

As the score reached 5-5 in the third game, errors started to come from the racket of Whitlock as she started to force opportunities which weren’t there, which was either hitting the tin or feeding Perry. The Englishwoman recognised this and capitalised fully to take the next two games 11-7, 11-8 to move into the quarter finals.

Crouin wins all-French affair

In the last match of the afternoon session on day three, Victor Crouin got the better of Gregoire Marche in the all-French battle at the OCBC Arena.

A crucial first game went the way of the World No.10, despite him being 7-2 down in the early stages. Crouin then found his lines, and employed good tactics to move in front in the game, eventually taking it 11-9.

Marche fought back, though, and the well-timed use of cross-court kills worked to his advantage, and he was able to come through to level the match. The third was then tight to 5-5, before Crouin went on a run of six straight points, winning the game and moving into the lead once again.

That form continued into the fourth game, where the French No.1 won the first seven points. Marche then tweaked something in his leg, requiring a three-minute self-inflicted injury break, but he was unable to continue at his best. He came back on to court, but Crouin reeled off the next four points to set up a clash with Mostafa Asal on Friday afternoon.

Tinne fights back to beat Salma

Belgium’s World No.12 Tinne Gilis booked her spot in the quarter finals at the OCBC Arena with a straight games victory over Egypt’s Salma Hany.

The Belgian fell behind in each of the three games, with Hany starting the stronger of the pair. She led 5-1 and 5-2, respectively, in the opening two games, but Gilis showed her qualities and her fighting spirit to come back.

Her movement was exceptional throughout the contest, as she she chased down every ball. That seemed to irritate Hany, who made errors at crucial times, allowing Gilis to make her move into the last eight of the Gold level tournament.

Asal powers past Rooney

World No.4 Mostafa Asal showed his class in his opening match of the MARIGOLD Singapore Squash Open, defeating England’s Patrick Rooney to book his spot in the quarter finals.

The Englishman started strongly in all three games, but Asal was able to steady the ship each time. Rooney showed glimpses of his abilities, but there was just a few too many errors from the World No.23 overall.

Meanwhile, Asal’s power game shone through, and he fought back in each of the three games to take a solid victory, moving through to the last eight at the OCBC Arena, where he will now face either France’s Victor Crouin or Gregoire Marche.

King in command in opening match

Just four days after winning the New Zealand Open, World No.5 Joelle King continued her great form to secure a commanding second round win over Canadian Hollie Naughton in Singapore.

The Kiwi came into the tournament as the No.2 seed, and after receiving a bye through the opening day’s action, she took on the Canadian in the first match of Thursday’s play.

King was in control throughout the contest, dropping just 12 points en route to the victory. She had spells in each game where she went on runs of points, and that was too much for Naughton to handle. The World No.5 will now face either Tinne Gilis or Salma Hany in the next round.