Mostafa Mows Down Rauf in Armenia

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Khaled Mostafa, the World No.310 from Egypt, secured the biggest scalp of his burgeoning career with a shock 3-0 win over Ismail Rauf in the opening round of the Grand Sport Armenian Challenger, PSA M5 tournament.

The 18-year-old started brilliantly and opened up a commanding lead in the first game before surviving a much closer second game in which Rauf gave a much better account of himself.

Mostafa though cantered to a comfortable victory in the third to progress from the first round of the main draw at a PSA World Tour event for the first time.

He faces qualifier Belal Newar who dispatched Joeri Hapers in three, while another qualifier, Iran’s Mohammad Reza Sadeghpour, came up with the day’s other upset as he overcame Sergey Grigoryan in straight games.

Elsewhere, top seed Nathan Lake recorded a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Youssef Ibrahim Abdallah. The Cheltenham-based 23-year-old took the opening game before being pegged back by his opponent but he stayed on course to succeed.

Lake will meet compatriot Josh Taylor in the next round with the winner set to face either Mostafa or Nawar in the last four. Meanwhile, Mazen Gamal is also through after defeating Sajid Khan and he will go up against fellow Egyptian Ahmed Hussein in the quarter-final.

Results – First Round: Grand Sport Armenian Challenger 2015
[1] Nathan Lake (ENG) bt Youssef Ibrahim Abdallah (EGY) 11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 (63 mins)
[7] Josh Taylor (ENG) bt Ali Miski (LIB) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 13-11 (24 mins)
[Q] Belal Newar (EGY) bt [8] Joeri Hapers (BEL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 (36 mins)
Khaled Mostafa (EGY) bt [4] Ismail Rauf (ARM) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-3 (29 mins)
[3] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt Mohammad Jafari (IRI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (22 mins)
[Q] Mohammad Reza Sadeghpour (IRI) bt [6] Sergey Grigoryan (ARM) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 (19 mins)
[5] Ahmed Hussein (EGY) bt [Q] Karim Ebrahim (EGY) 3-0: 13-11, 11-3, 16-14 (36 mins)
[2] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt [Q] Sajid Khan (ARM) 11-4, 11-9, 11-6 (24 mins)

Draw – Quarter-Final
[1] Nathan Lake (ENG) v [7] Josh Taylor (ENG)
[Q] Belal Newar (EGY) v Khaled Mostafa (EGY)
[3] Jan Koukal (CZE) v [Q] Mohammad Reda Sadeghpour (IRI)
[5] Ahmed Hussein (EGY) v [2] Mazen Gamal (EGY)