Manchester Open – Day Two: Evening Roundup

The evening session on day two of the Manchester Open saw 16 more players attempt to move into round two of the PSA World Tour Silver event.

Women’s wildcard Nghiem continued her impressive form as she scored another upset to down former World No.5 Sarah-Jane Perry and reach her first World Tour quarter final. Nghiem raced to a 2-0 lead, playing structured, accurate squash which was proving too much for the experienced Perry to deal with. It wasn’t long before the England No.2 found her shots though as she moved through the gears to equalise at 2-2. Despite losing the previous two games, the local player was determined to take advantage of the opportunity and after a positive start to the fifth ran through to win 11-5 in the decider.

“It’s amazing!” said Nghiem.

“I was a bit worried about giving her so much respect because I know how big of a name SJ is, I’ve been looking up to her since I started playing so to get the win in Manchester of all places feels great, I’m just loving it.

“It’s great when they [friends and family] can watch in person, it feels great to have people rooting for you. It gives you the extra edge when you think you’re down, it just gives you that little boost, so it’s amazing to get these big wins in front of friends and family, it means a lot to me.”

Nghiem will take on Egypt’s No.4 seed Salma Hany in the last eight after she defeated Tesni Murphy on the all-glass court in the National Squash Centre. Japan’s Satomi Watanabe and England’s Georgina Kennedy were the other two women to score wins in the evening session as they defeated Torrie Malik and Hollie Naughton, respectively.

All the top seeds made their way through to the quarter finals in the men’s evening matches. Egyptian duo Youssef Soliman and Fares Dessouky have set up a tantalising last eight clash as they moved past Mohamad Zakaria and Lucas Serme in confident fashion.

The final two men’s matches of the evening saw two Wales v England clashes as Nathan Lake took on Emyr Evans on glass court 2 whilst No.2 seed Joel Makin faced George Parker on glass court 1. Lake was first to book his spot in the next round after beating Evans in four games. Lake secured a 2-0 lead after saving a game ball in the second game and after Evans gave himself a lifeline by wining the third, Lake moved up a gear to convert.

Makin closed out the evening session with a hard fought 3-0 win over Parker. The rallies were long and intense but Makin always looked to be in control and after a close opener, stormed to victory.

Results: Men’s Round Two
[3] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 (50m)
[5] Fares Dessouky (EGY) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (36m)
[8] Nathan Lake (ENG) bt Emyr Evans (WAL) 3-1: 11-5, 14-12, 7-11, 11-6 (48m)
[2] Joel Makin (WAL) v George Parker (ENG) 3-0: 12-10, 11-3, 11-4 (49m)

Results: Women’s Round Two
[WC] Saran Nghiem (ENG) bt [8] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 3-2: 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 4-11, 11-5 (46m)
[4] Salma Hany (EGY) bt Tesni Murphy (WAL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 (34m)
[5] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt Torrie Malik (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (26m)
[2] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Hollie Naughton (CAN) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-2 (24m)