Lagord Tennis Squash RD1: Wildcard Mekhalfi Among Surprise Winners

Wildcard Toufik Mekhalfi caused one of three seeding upsets at the Open PSA Lagord Tennis Squash on Tuesday evening.

The Frenchman came into the event as one of two wildcards and took down Belgium’s Joeri Hapers in the opening round. He won the first two games by 11-9 scorelines, before then taking the third 11-5 to book his place in the second round of the Challenger 20 level competition.

He will be joined by Egypt’s Abdallah Elmasry and Italian No.1 Yuri Farneti in the last 16. The pair both caused upsets on the opening day. Elmasry defeated England’s Robert Downer in a five-game battle, before the Italian downed India’s Sandeep Ramachandran in straight games.

Mekhalfi was not the only Frenchman to won on the first day in Lagord, with Edwin Clain downing Elliott Morris Devred on Tuesday afternoon. The Frenchman will now face former World No.1 James Willstrop in the second round.

The second round of the Open PSA Lagord Tennis Squash will take place on Wednesday, November 2, with the seeded players making their debuts at the tournament. You can keep up to date with live scores from the tournament here.

First Round Results: Open PSA Lagord Tennis Squash
Edwin Clain (FRA) bt Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) 3-1: 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 16-14 (55m)
Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [WC] Laszlo Godde (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (27m)
James Peach (ENG) bt Sam Buckley (IRL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 (36m)
Viktor Byrtus (CZE) bt Sean Conroy (IRL) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-8 (30m)
Ben Smith (ENG) bt Stuart MacGregor (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-3 (22m)
[WC] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) bt Joeri Hapers (BEL) 3-0: 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 (32m)
Abdallah Elmasry (EGY) bt Robert Downer (ENG) 3-2: 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7 (76m)
Yuri Farneti (ITA) bt Sandeep Ramachandran (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-6 (26m)

Second Round Draw: To Be Played Wednesday, November 2
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) v Edwin Clain (FRA)
Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) v [5] Rory Stewart (SCO)
[6] Ryosei Kobayashi (JPN) v James Peach (ENG)
Viktor Byrtus (CZE) v [3] Declan James (ENG)
[4] Mazen Gamal (EGY) v Ben Smith (ENG)
[WC] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) v [8] Simon Herbert (ENG)
[7] Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY) v Abdallah Elmasry (FRA)
Yuri Farneti (ITA) v [2] Auguste Dussourd (FRA)