RESULTS: Saudi International Squash Championship, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Qualifying finals:
Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-1, 11-2, 11-5 (23m)
Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Simon Parke (ENG) 11-5, 11-6, 11-10 (5-3) (42m)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Liam Kenny (IRL) 11-8, 5-11, 11-2, 11-10 (7-5) (84m)
Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 9-11, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 (62m)
Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 10-11 (0-2), 11-6, 11-2, 11-2 (54m)
Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Ben Garner (ENG) 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-10 (2-0) (52m)
Joey Barrington (ENG) bt Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 11-8 (60m)
Alex Gough (WAL) bt Alister Walker (ENG) 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5 (69m)
World Champions In Final Push For Further Glory In Saudi Arabia
England's victorious World Team Championships-winning squad will be hoping to add further glory in the final major squash event of the year, which gets underway in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Khobar tomorrow (Friday).
The $127,500 Saudi International, the second richest PSA Tour event of the year, rounds off a punishing schedule for the world's top men which kicked off with the Qatar Classic in the last week of November, followed by the Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Privilege World Open in Hong Kong, then this week's World Team Championships in Pakistan.
All four members of the squad which reclaimed the world title for England in Islamabad are seeded in the new PSA Super Series Platinum event – fifth seed Lee Beachill due to face Dutch qualifier Laurens Jan Anjema, while squad No1 James Willstrop, the eighth seed who won last month's Qatar Classic, is scheduled to face French qualifier Renan Lavigne.
Peter Nicol, the seventh seed who clinched England's victory over Egypt, is drawn to meet fellow English left-hander Adrian Grant in the opening round, while 11th seed Nick Matthew will take on Egypt's Wael El Hindi.
Top seed in Saudi is world No1 Thierry Lincou, the Frenchman who lost his World Open crown earlier this month to Egypt's Amr Shabana. Lincou faces Australia's Joseph Kneipp, while fourth seed Shabana takes on Welsh qualifier Alex Gough.
Lincou is expected to meet Canada's No2 seed Jonathon Power in the final on Tuesday.
1st round draw:
[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Joseph Kneipp (AUS)
[12] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [Q] Stewart Boswell (AUS)
[8] James Willstrop (ENG) v [Q] Renan Lavigne (FRA)
[16] Shahid Zaman (PAK) v [Q] Rodney Durbach (RSA)
[3] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) v [Q] Ramy Ashour (EGY)
[13] Graham Ryding (CAN) v [Q] Joey Barrington (ENG)
[7] Peter Nicol (ENG) v Adrian Grant (ENG)
[9] John White (SCO) v Peter Barker (ENG)
[14] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) v Mansoor Zaman (PAK)
[5] Lee Beachill (ENG) v [Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)
[11] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Wael El Hindi (EGY)
[4] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [Q] Alex Gough (WAL)
[10] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Ong Beng Hee (MAS)
[6] David Palmer (AUS) v Mohammed Abbas (EGY)
[15] Olli Tuominen (FIN) v Bandare Alotaibi (KSA)
[2] Jonathon Power (CAN) v [Q] Cameron Pilley (AUS)