Tournament of Champions RD1: Abbas, Metwally, Whitlock & Fuller Progress

Egyptians Nada Abbas and Mariam Metwally, England’s Emily Whitlock and South Africa’s Alexandra Fuller all got off to winning starts as the women’s draw got under way at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions.

All four players were in action at the Harvard Club of New York with Abbas pushed all the way to five-games by Rachel Arnold as the World No.28 was forced to come from 2-1 down against the World No.43 of Malaysia.

Abbas will face England’s former World No.3 Alison Waters in the next round with that match taking place at the Harvard Club of New York tomorrow.

She will be joined in the second round by compatriot Mariam Metwally who took out Canada’s World No.38 Danielle Letourneau in straight games to set up a last 32 clash with Egypt’s World No.10 Hania El Hammamy.

Meanwhile, World No.27 Whitlock was on her metal to despatch Hong Kong’s World No.44 Tze Lok Ho in straight-games as she ensured a safe passage through to the second round with an 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 victory in 32 minutes.

The 25-year-old will now come up against home favourite and World No.7 Amanda Sobhy in the next round on the glass court inside Grand Central Terminal.

Elsewhere, World No.41 Fuller enjoyed an upset as she took out former World No.1 Rachael Grinham to reach the last 32 at the New York event for the first time in her career.

The South African was on top form, taking just 21 minutes to despatch the experienced Australian. Fuller will meet U.S. Open champion Nouran Gohar in the next round at Grand Central Terminal.

You can follow live scores from the women’s round one at the Tournament of Champions here.

Results:
Emily Whitlock (ENG) bt Tze Lok Ho (HKG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 (32m)
Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-2: 10-12, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4 (48m)
Mariam Metwally (EGY) bt Danielle Letourneau (CAN) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-7 (33m)
Alexandra Fuller (RSA) bt Rachael Grinham (AUS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (21m)