New British National squash champion Daryl Selby admitted that he was “feeling flat” as he crashed out of the 1st round of the North American Open to Malaysian Azlan Iskandar (pic), who defeated 7th seed Selby after losing the opening game, hitting back to win 9-11, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 in 60 minutes. The Malaysian now meets Simon Rosner in the 2nd round after the German No1 beat England’s Joey Barrington 11-2, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5 in a physical battle in which Barrington received a conduct warning for remarks made to referee. Reigning champion Matthew was almost floored himself in the 1st round. The 30-year-old Englishman blamed the slippery floor for his flawed performance against US No1 Julian Illingworth and needed to show his trademark resilience to avoid a shock defeat. Matthew complained of slipping on the recently-painted court floor as he lost the opening game – but he battled back to win the three tight games that followed (8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7). 5 more matches of the 1st round (top half of draw): Shahier Razik (CAN) bt Gilly Lane (USA) 12-10, 11-7, 11-7 (59m); Alister Walker (ENG) bt Stewart Boswell (AUS) 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 11-4 (64m); David Palmer (AUS) bt [8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-2, 11-8, 11-7 (40m); Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt [Q] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (24m); [4] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Arturo Salazar (MEX) 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 (29m).
