Demont Defies Haycocks to Reach Open de Paris Main Draw

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French World No.85 Geoffrey Demont sealed his place in the main draw of the IG Open de Paris, PSA M25 tournament for the first time since 2014 after he dug deep to defeat England’s Jaymie Haycocks 3-1 in the final round of qualifying.

25-year-old Demont, who bowed out in the first stage of qualifying last year, started the better of the two and, a second game defeat on the tie-break aside, held firm to record an 11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7 victory which sees him complete an English double after also beating Ben Coates in the previous round.

Demont will take on Swiss number two seed Nicolas Mueller in the opening round of the main draw in what looks set to be a difficult encounter given the 54-place World Rankings gap between the pair.

Elsewhere, India’s Mahesh Mangaonkar came out on top against Kuwait’s Abdullah Al Muzayen in a brutal 79-minute affair. The clash of styles made for an intriguing spectacle, with the power and attrition of Mangaonkar going up against the shot-making skills of Al Muzayen. After going to a nail-biting fifth game, Mangaonkar eventually took it courtesy of a 12-10 triumph and the World No.58 will line up against talented Englishman Declan James for a place in the quarter-final.

The crowd did witness two home hopes fall though as Christophe Andre and Victor Crouin both exited the competition. Andre, on a run of four title wins in his last five PSA World Tour events, came up against third qualifying seed Richie Fallows in his match, but relinquished a 2-1 lead after the frantic pace finally caught up with him, allowing Fallows to advance to the main draw where he will meet Scotland’s Greg Lobban.

Crouin, meanwhile, had earned his place in the final qualifying round thanks to a superb scalp of 2013 World Junior Champion Karim El Hammamy but the 16-year-old’s campaign was brought to an end by World No.64 Tom Ford who took the win in four. Ford will now face fellow Englishman Adrian Waller in round one of the main draw.

Results – Final Qualifying Seed: IG Open de Paris 2016
[1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [8] Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW) 3-2: 6-11, 11-9, 11-3, 10-12, 12-10 (79m)
[3] Richie Fallows (ENG) bt [7] Christophe Andre (FRA) 3-2: 4-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5 (60m)
[6] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) bt [4] Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7 (80m)
[2] Tom Ford (ENG) bt Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-1: 11-2, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5 (45m)

Main Draw – First Round
[1] Chris Simpson (ENG) v Joe Lee (ENG)
[WC] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v [7] Lucas Serme (FRA)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) v Charles Sharpes (ENG)
Todd Harrity (USA) v [4] Alan Clyne (SCO)
[3] Adrian Waller (ENG) v [Q] Tom Ford (ENG)
[Q] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) v [8] Declan James (ENG)
[6] Greg Lobban (SCO) v [Q] Richie Fallows (ENG)
[Q] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) v [2] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)