Ramy Ashour beat Nick Matthew in the 2011 Australian Open final in 5 games 12-14, 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4 after 78 minutes of play (photo: Bob Given) In a few weeks time (11th to 19th) defending champion Ramy Ashour wants to retain his Australian Open 2011, as he beat Nick Matthew in 5 games in the final.
This year the world No4 from Cairo will be the overwhelming favourite, after main rivals Nick Matthew and James Willstrop elected not to make the trip to Canberra this year.
Last year Englishman Peter Barker lost to Ashour in the quarters. 2012 Barker is seed as No2 to meet the Egyptian in the final.
1st round draw:
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Qualifier
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) v Qualifier
Leo Au (HKG) v Qualifier
[7] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Qualifier
[5] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Qualifier
Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) v Campbell Grayson (NZL)
Zac Alexander (AUS) v Rex Hedrick (AUS)
[3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Matthew Karwalski (AUS)
[4] Tom Richards (ENG) v Kamran Khan (MAS)
Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW)
Martin Knight (NZL) v Qualifier
[8] Alan Clyne (SCO) v Siddharth Suchde (IND)
[6] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Ivan Yuen (MAS)
Amr Khaled Khalifa (EGY) v Qualifier
Jan Koukal (CZE) v Qualifier
[2] Peter Barker (ENG) v Max Lee (HKG)
