It was Germany’s Simon Rosner (pic ri) who earned the biggest scalp in the 2nd round of the Kuwait Cup. The World No24 beat the 4-time World Champion Amr Shabana (pic le) in straight games 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 to claim a place in the last 16 of a World Series event for the 1st time in his career.
Except this major upset all seeded players have gone through with more or less problems. Daryl Selby (ENG), Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY), Alister Walker (BOT) and Adrian Grant (ENG) had to go for the full distance to overcome their opponents Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW), Borja Golan (ESP), Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) and Ryan Cuskelly (AUS).
2nd round results:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 (29m)
[13] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 (58m)
[9] Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW) 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 (66m)
[7] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 2-11, 12-10 (85m)
[8] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-6, 13-11, 11-6 (47m)
[10] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 11-2 (70m)
[16] Alister Walker (BOT) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 (85m)
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 11-0, 11-8, 11-9 (27m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt [4] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 (22m)
[15] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 (40m)
[12] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Jonathan Kemp (ENG) 11-3, 11-4, 11-9 (18m)
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 (34m)
[6] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Jan Koukal (CZE) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (42m)
[14] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 11-6, 11-13, 5-11, 11-4, 11-3 (76m)
[11] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Max Lee (HKG) 11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 11-5 (67m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 (28m)
3rd round line-up:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [13] Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[9] Daryl Selby (ENG) v [7] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
[8] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [10] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) v [16] Alister Walker (BOT)
[15] Stewart Boswell (AUS) v Simon Rosner (GER)
[5] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [12] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)
[6] Peter Barker (ENG) v [14] Adrian Grant (ENG)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) v [11] Omar Mosaad (EGY)