Georgia Open: All seeds advance on opening day in Georgia

All 9/16 seeds safely progressed through to round two on the opening day of the inaugural Georgia Open 2023 as the eight winners will now join the top eight seeds in trying to secure quarter final places.

There were two matches that went the distance on day one as Colombian duo Ronald Palomino and Edgar Ramirez scores wins in five games to progress to round two. Palomino found himself 2-0 down against Egypt’s Salman Khalil but managed to recover strongly to win the fifth game 11-4 and claim the win in 71 minutes. Ramirez trailed 2-1 in his clash Wirth USA’s Jamie Riggeiro but fought back in strong fashion to claim the fourth and fifth games 11-7, 11-9 to avoid an early exit.

Former World No.35 and event wildcard Henrick Mustonen was denied a second round place after he lost out in a tightly contested four game match against Pakistan’s Muhammad Ashab Irfan. The Fin took the opening game 11-8 but after Ifran equalised, Mustonen struggled to recapture his form and lost out 11-4, 11-3 to lose out.

British duo Emyr Evans and Finnlay Withington scored confident wins as they overcame Pakistan’s Seed Abdul and Cory McCartney. Evans now faces fellow Brit Rory Stewart in the second round whilst Withington will face USA tour veteran Chris Gordon.

Results: Georgia Open 2023 – RD1
[9/16] Emyr Evans (WAL) bt Saeed Abdul (PAK) 3-0: 11-2, 11-2, 11-6 (19m)
[9/16] Finnlay Withington (ENG) bt Cory McCartney (CAN) 3-0: 13-11, 11-0, 11-4 (20m)
[9/16] Veer Chotrani (IND) bt [WC] Matias Lacroix (CHI) 3-0: 11-4, 12-10, 11-2 (35m)
[9/16] Edgar Ramirez (COL) bt Jamie Ruggiero (USA) 3-2: 11-8, 12-14, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9 (59m)
[9/16] Muhammad Ashab Irfan (PAK) bt [WC] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 3-1: 8-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-3 (41m)
[9/16] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) bt [WC] Fletcher Cline (USA) 3-0: 11-1, 11-3, 11-3 (14m)
[9/16] Sanjay Jeeva (MAS) bt Mark Broekman (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (23m)
[9/16] Ronald Palomino (COL) bt Salman Khalil (EGY) 3-2: 8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 14-12, 11-4 (71m)

Draw: RD2
[1] Rory Stewart (SCO) v [9/16] Emyr Evans (WAL)
[5] Christopher Gordon (USA) v [9/16] Finnlay Withington (ENG)
[8] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) v [9/16] Veer Chotrani (IND)
[4] Alfredo Avila (MEX) v [9/16] Edgar Ramirez (COL)
[3] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) v [9/16] Muhammad Ashab Irfan (PAK)
[6] Seif Shenawy (EGY) v [9/16] Viktor Byrtus (CZE)
[7] Jeremías Azaña (ARG) v [9/16] Sanjay Jeeva (MAS)
[2] Faraz Khan (USA) v [9/16] Ronald Palomino (COL)