Australia’s David Palmer (pic le) will have to get past world No5 Amr Shabana (pic ri) of Egypt in the 1st round of the Australian Open if he is to have any chance of adding a 2nd title to the one he claimed in 2008. The 2011 Australian Open will be played in Canberra from 8-14 August. Palmer and Shabana, both one-time world number ones with 6 World Open titles between them, have already faced each other 20 times on the PSA World Tour since 2000 – with the Egyptian boasting a 12-8 advantage. 1st round draw: [1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA), Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Qualifier, Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Julian Illingworth (USA), [8] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Laurens Jan Anjema (NED), [5] Amr Shabana (EGY) v David Palmer (AUS), Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) v Tom Richards (ENG), Qualifier v Qualifier, [3] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Qualifier, [4] James Willstrop (ENG) v Chris Ryder (ENG), Qualifier v Qualifier, Adrian Grant (ENG) v Simon Rosner (GER), [6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Cameron Pilley (AUS), [7] Peter Barker (ENG) v Aaron Frankcomb (AUS), Wael El Hindi (EGY) v Qualifier, Stewart Boswell (AUS) v Saurav Ghosal (IND), [2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Qualifier.
Palmer to face Shabana in Australian Open opener!
?fbid=10150244692898442&set=a.136949123441.108891.132005913441&type=1″>