Home Hopes Bow Out in Armenia Qualifying

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Armenian players Sergey Grigoryan and Ayk Avetisyan have exited the Grand Sport Armenia 2nd Challenger 5, PSA M5 tournament after suffering defeats to Stephane Galifi and Alireza Shameli, respectively, in the opening round of qualifying.

Galifi, a former World No.40, used his wealth of experience to move Grigoryan into all four corners of the court and rattled off a number of winners in quick succession to seize the initiative in the encounter and the 38-year-old soon rose to an 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 triumph.

His opponent in the final round of qualifying will be Antonia de la Torre who received a bye in the previous round.

Shameli, meanwhile, was also in dominant form against Avetisyan as he cantered to the opening game for the loss of five points, before fending off a fightback from his opponent in the second and third games to close out the victory. He will go head-to-head with number one qualifying seed Khaled Mostafa for a place in the main draw, with Egypt’s Mostafa seeing off Ashkan Ettehadi to progress.

The closest match of the day saw Iraq’s Ahmed Al Kiremli defeat Sajid Khan by the narrowest of margins. Al Kiremli took the lead on two occasions, only to be pegged back by Khan both times as he struggled to shake off the attentions of the man from Pakistan. However, he managed to engineer a bit of breathing space for himself in the decider to force the win over the line and set up a final qualifying round fixture with Mohammad Jafari, the 28-year-old from Iran who was the recipient of a bye in round one of qualifying.

Third qualifying seed Vincent Droesbeke is also through to the next round after beating Sergey Keshishyan and he will take on Lewis Doughty, with a main draw spot up for grabs.

Results – First Qualifying Round: Grand Sport Armenia 2nd Challenger 5 2016
Antonio de la Torre (GUA) (bye)
[7] Stephane Galifi (ITA) bt [2] Sergey Grigoryan (ARM) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-8
[5] Alireza Shameli (ISR) bt [L] Ayk Avetisyan (ARM) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-9
[1] Khaled Mostafa (EGY) bt [6] Ashkan Ettehadi (IRI) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-5
Lewis Doughty (ENG) (bye)
[3] Vincent Droesbeke (FRA) bt [L] Sergey Keshishyan (ARM) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-3
[4] Ahmed Al Kiremli (IRQ) bt [L] Sajid Khan (PAK) 3-2: 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-8
Mohammad Jafari (ISR) (bye)

Draw – Final Qualifying Round
Antonio de la Torre (GUA) v [7] Stephane Galifi (ITA)
[5] Alireza Shameli (ISR) v [1] Khaled Mostafa (EGY)
Lewis Doughty (ENG) v [3] Vincent Droesbeke (FRA)
[4] Ahmed Al Kiremli (IRQ) v Mohammad Jafari (ISR)