"I came off feeling as though I had played ok - not great and not bad either so I'm happy to get that win," said Tom Richards after the match (pic: Sofia Tapola). England’s Tom Richards (back), the 28-year-old World No.34 downed Switzerland’s World No.18 Nicolas Mueller (front) during the opening round at the CASE Swedish Open in Linkoping.
Richards, who has plummeted from a high ranking of No.12 in 2013 after a series of injuries, had to come from behind against the talented Swiss star but showed impressive signs of composure and consistency to overcome Mueller 9-11, 11-1, 11-8, 11-5 in 54-minutes.
Elsewhere on the opening day there were routine wins for top seeds Gregory Gaultier and Nick Matthew, as they got the better of Fares Dessouki and Olli Tuominen, respectively, while England’s James Willstrop made a winning return to the PSA World Tour following a five-month injury lay-off, beating compatriot Chris Simpson in a closely fought 3-2 encounter that tested him over 72-minutes.
1st round:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Fares Dessouki (EGY) 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 (44m)
[Q] Tom Richards (ENG) bt [6] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 9-11, 11-1, 11-8, 11-5 (53m)
[8] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [WC] Rasmus Hult (SWE) 12-10, 11-7, 11-8 (37m)
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8 (72m)
[4] Simon Rösner (GER) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 12-14, 11-6, 14-12, 14-12 (69m)
[5] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Shaun le Roux (RSA) 11-9, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7 (57m)
[7] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [Q] Joe Lee (ENG) 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 (40m)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [Q] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (30m)
