New Zealand favourite Martin Knight led all four seeds safely through to the quarter-finals of the Champion Fiberglass Open, the inaugural PSA World Tour Challenger 10 event at Downtown Club at the Met in Houston, Texas, USA.
The 29-year-old from Auckland despatched Cayman Islands qualifier Cameron Stafford 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 and will now face England’s Declan James for a place in the semi-finals.
But second seed Andrew Wagih Shoukry had a much tougher ride. The 23-year-old Egyptian, ranked 59 in the world, was taken the full distance by Greg Lobban before overcoming the Scot ranked 27 places lower 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8.
Mexican twins Arturo Salazar and Cesar Salazar both survived four-game encounters. Fourth seed Arturo beat Canadian qualifier Thomas Brinkman while Cesar, the No3 seed, had to fight back from a game down to see off Pakistani Muhammad Saqib Yousaf 5-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-4.
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Martin Knight (NZL) v Declan James (ENG)
[4] Arturo Salazar (MEX) v Clinton Leeuw (RSA)
[3] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Farhan Zaman (PAK)
[2] Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) v Raphael Kandra (GER)
1st round:
[1] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [Q] Cameron Stafford (CAY) 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (26m)
Declan James (ENG) bt Fred Reid (CAN) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 (22m)
Clinton Leeuw (RSA) bt [Q] Syed Hamzah Shah Bukhari (PAK) 11-9, 12-10, 11-6 (40m)
[4] Arturo Salazar (MEX) bt [Q] Thomas Brinkman (CAN) 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10 (39m)
[3] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt Muhammad Saqib Yousaf (PAK) 5-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 (39m)
Farhan Zaman (PAK) bt [Q] Matthew Serediak (CAN) 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (34m)
Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [WC] Aqib Hanif (PAK) 11-3, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7 (40m)
[2] Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 (59m)
Qualifying finals:
Syed Hamzah Shah Bukhari (PAK) bt Reuben Phillips (ENG) 8-11, 14-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 (77m)
Cameron Stafford (CAY) bt Karamatullah Khan (PAK) 11-6, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8 (42m)
Thomas Brinkman (CAN) bt Fernando Lopez (MEX) 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 (26m)
Matthew Serediak (CAN) bt Aurangzeb Mehmund (PAK) 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8 (75m)
1st qualifying round:
Reuben Phillips (ENG) bt David Barry (USA) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5 (22m)
Syed Hamzah Shah Bukhari (PAK) bt Muhammad Sadiq (USA) 11-8, 11-3, 11-13, 12-10 (45m)
Cameron Stafford (CAY) bt Vikrant Ghandi (USA) 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 (16m)
Karamatullah Khan (PAK) bt Atif Siddique (USA) 13-11, 11-1, 11-8 (20m)
Fernando Lopez (MEX) bt Jahanzeb Khan (PAK) 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5 (37m)
Aurangzeb Mehmund (PAK) bt Shahjahan Khan (PAK) 14-12, 7-11, 1-11, 11-9, 11-8 (85m)
