Budapest Open: Round One Concludes At City Squash Club

Round one of the PSA Budapest Open concluded yesterday at City Squash Club as eight players made their way through to the second round of the second ever PSA Squash Tour Copper event.

There were no upsets on the opening day of action which saw both Hungarian wildcards fall in contrasting style. Benedek Takacs produced a strong performance as he fell in four games to Egypt’s Yassin Elshafei in nearly 40 minutes. Two close opening games were shared by both players but the Egyptian found top form in the last two games, winning them both 11-3 to avoid the potential banana skin. Fellow wildcard Barnabas Sali had no such luck in his clash with Jonah Bryant as he fell in just over 20 minutes.

In one of the closest matchups of the day, France’s Toufik Mekhalfi had to battle hard to see off Wales’ Owain Taylor in four games. After the score reached 1-1, the Frenchman claimed a crucial third game 12-10 before moving though the gears in the fourth game to win 11-8 and take his place in the second round. There was some joy for Wales however as Emyr Evans continued his good form to beat Czechia’s Martin Svec in straight games.

The top seeds will join the action for round two today with plenty of exciting match ups set to take place. Play starts at 12:00 (GMT+2) and you can watch the action live here.

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Results: Round One
Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt Mohammad Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 3-1: 11-4, 9-11, 13-11, 11-7 (51m)
Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt Temwa Chileshe (NZL) 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 11-3 (26m)
Emyr Evans (WAL) bt Martin Svec (CZE) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-9 (30m)
Declan James (ENG) bt Edwin Clain (FRA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 (37m)
Simon Herbert (ENG) bt Viktor Byrtus (CZE) 3-1: 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 11-9 (55m)
Jonah Bryant (ENG) bt Barnabas Sali (HUN) 3-0: 11-6, 11-0, 11-5 (21m)
Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) bt Owain Taylor (WAL) 3-1: 11-9, 5-11, 12-10, 11-8 (53m)
Yassin Elshafei (EGY) bt Benedek Takacs (HUN) 3-1: 12-10, 8-11, 11-3, 11-3 (39m) 3-1

Draw: Round Two
[1] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) v Jonah Bryant (ENG)
Yassin Elshafei v [8] Bernat Jaume (ESP)
[7] Patrick Rooney (ENG) v Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR)
Emyr Evans (WAL) v [3] Balazs Farkas (HUN)
[4] George Parker (ENG) v Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA)
Simon Herbert (ENG) v [6] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
[5] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) v Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI)
Declan James (ENG) v [2] Omar Mossad (EGY)