Scotland’s Alan Clyne (pic) survived the longest battle in the 1st qualifying round of the Hong Kong Open, by beating Australian Matthew Karwalski 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11 after 72 minutes. Egypt’s Omar Abdel Aziz was also taken to the full distance. The 26-year-old world no.30 from Cairo withstood a fight back by USA’s Christopher Gordon before beating the 24-year-old from New York 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-3. Qualifying finals line-up: Tom Richards (ENG) v Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS), Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) v Max Lee (HKG), Julian Illingworth (USA) v Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS), Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY), Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v Amr Swelim (ITA), Farhan Mehboob (PAK) v Alan Clyne (SCO), Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v Siddharth Suchde (IND), Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) v Mohammed Abbas (EGY).
