Prague Open Qualifying Begins

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The first qualifying round of the City of Prague Open, PSA M5 tournament saw a solitary local player make it through to the next stage after Petr Martin of the Czech Republic overcame seventh qualifying seed Ali Miski.

Martin was in fine mettle and stormed to victory in straight games to ensure that he is just a solitary win away from reaching the main draw.

Iran’s Mohammad Reza Sadeghpour stands between Martin and a place amongst the main draw action after he dispatched Ondrej Vorlicek.

Top qualifying seed Miles Jenkins is also into the final round of qualifying thanks to a 3-0 win over local player Jakub Solnicky. Jenkins only just managed to win the opening game on the tie-break, but soon established himself on the match to secure a straight games triumph. The World No.260 is aiming to reach his second PSA World Tour main draw of the year, and will go up against Hendrik Vossing in the next round, with the German seeing off Petr Zatrepalek.

“I think I played really well, I’m happy with how I constructed the first two games,” said Jenkins.

“I played some good patterns and made him do quite a lot of work. He had a good start to the third and made me work hard, but I was happy with the way I came back and closed out the match.”

Elsewhere, David Haley prevailed in an all-Welsh encounter with David Zeman, winning in four to reach the next stage, and he is rewarded with another fixture against a compatriot, this time taking on Dan Bergin after the 20-year-old beat Vojtech Ryba.

Connor Sheen and Taminder Gata-Aura will face off in the next round’s other fixture following their victories over Czech duo Viktor Byrtus and Marek Lapacek, respectively.

Results – First Qualifying Round: City of Prague Open 2016
[1] Miles Jenkins (ENG) bt [L] Jakub Solnicky (CZE) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (35m)
[8] Hendrik Vossing (GER) bt [L] Petr Zatrepalek (CZE) 3-0: 16-14, 11-4, 11-4 (25m)
[L] Petr Martin (CZE) bt [7] Ali Miski (UAE) 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 (19m)
[4] Mohammad Reza Sadeghpour (IRI) bt [L] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) 3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
[3] Connor Sheen (ENG) bt [L] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) 3-1: 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 (43m)
[6] Taminder Gata-Aura (ENG) bt [L] Marek Lapacek (CZE) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (21m)
[5] Dan Bergin (WAL) bt [L] Vojtech Ryba (CZE) 3-2: 4-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-4, 11-5 (48m)
[2] David Haley (WAL) bt [L] David Zeman (CZE) 3-1: 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 5-11 (37m)

Draw – Final Qualifying Round
[1] Miles Jenkins (ENG) v [8] Hendrik Vossing (GER)
[L] Petr Martin (CZE) v [4] Mohammad Reza Sadeghpour (IRI)
[3] Connor Sheen (ENG) v [6] Taminder Gata-Aura (ENG)
[5] Dan Bergin (WAL) v [2] David Haley (WAL)