"I felt off and things were not working, but it's better to play like that early and still go through because as long as I win I don't care”, said Gaultier after his 5 games opener. French World No.2 and number one seed Greg Gaultier avoided an early out of the 2014 Qatar PSA World Championships, coming back from 2 games down to get past his opponent, Egyptian qualifier Andrew Wagih Shoukry.
Gaultier, who is competing in his 150th PSA World Tour event (60 finals), looked to be absent in the opening 2 games as Shoukry stormed into an early lead. Gaultier rallied to turn the match to an 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 victory.
“I didn’t feel good at all today. You have to deal with these things I need to get on the practice court tomorrow and try and find my rhythm and tomorrow is another day”, said Gaultier afterwards.
Gaultier’s likely semi-final opponent, Egyptian World No.5 Ramy Ashour, made is highly anticipated return to PSA World Tour action with a convincing 3-0 victory over Malaysian Ivan Yuen.
The two-time World Champion from Cairo has missed the better part of the past 12 months following an horrendous run of injuries but his title rivals will have been paying attention as he came through in emphatic fashion, taking the match 11-5, 14-12, 11-5.
1st round top half:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (57m)
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Mazen Hesham (EGY) 13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5 (51m)
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 11-8, 1-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 (55m)
[9] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [WC] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5 (53m)
[16] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [Q] Rex Hedrick (AUS) 11-3, 11-2, 11-8 (48m)
Alister Walker (BOT) bt [Q] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6 (44m)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Joe Lee (ENG) 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9 (76m)
[7] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6 (67m)
[6] Borja Golan (ESP) bt Leo Au (HKG) 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 (51m)
[Q] Greg Lobban (SCO) bt Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (32m)
Fares Dessouki (EGY) bt [Q] Farhan Zaman (PAK) 11-8, 11-0, 6-11, 11-9 (46m)
[13] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-7 ret.
[12] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Shaun le Roux (RSA) 11-4, 11-6, 11-6 (24m)
Zahed Mohamed (EGY) bt [Q] Ben Coleman (ENG) 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (49m)
Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Piedro Schweertman (NED) 9-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-7 (42m)
[4] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Ivan Yuen (MAS) 11-5, 14-12, 11-5 (32m)
