To the delight of the crowd at the Hong Kong Squash Centre, the country's top two ranked players Max Lee and Dick Lau secured places in the quarter-finals of the Crocodile Challenge Cup after straight games wins in today's opening round of the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event.
Top seed Lee, the Hong Kong national champion ranked 43 in the world, raced to an 11-5, 11-5, 14-12 victory over Canadian Fred Reid in just 22 minutes.
Lau, the fourth seed and the Hong Kong No2, survived two tie-break games against determined opponent Harinder Pal Sandhu before ultimately prevailing 11-9, 13-11, 13-11 over the Indian in 50 minutes to earn his anticipated place in the last eight.
But there was unexpected Indian success when Mahesh Mangaonkar became the only qualifier to survive the first round after beating higher-ranked Frenchman Lucas Serme 11-5, 11-4, 11-9.
The 17-year-old from Mumbai's reward is a quarter-final clash with home favourite Max Lee.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 Crocodile Challenge Cup, Hong Kong
1st round:
[1] Max Lee (HKG) bt Fred Reid (CAN) 11-5, 11-5, 14-12 (22m)
[Q] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 11-5, 11-4, 11-9
Elvinn Keo (MAS) bt Cheuk Yan Tang (HKG) 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 (41m)
[4] Dick Lau (HKG) bt Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) 11-9, 13-11, 13-11 (50m)
[3] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt [Q] Ravi Dixit (IND) 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 (42m)
Bader Al Hussaini (KUW) bt [Q] Kam Hing Choong (MAS) 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 (17m)
Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt Leo Au (HKG) 11-6, 12-10, 6-11, 14-12 (80m)
[2] Matthew Karwalski (AUS) bt [Q] Ammar Al-Tamimi (KUW) 11-2, 11-3, 11-7 (24m)
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Max Lee (HKG) v [Q] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND)
[4] Dick Lau (HKG) v Elvinn Keo (MAS)
[3] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) v Bader Al Hussaini (KUW)
[2] Matthew Karwalski (AUS) v Ivan Yuen (MAS)
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