Archi Factory Open Lorient RD1: Seeds Through On Opening Morning

The first round of the Archi Factory Open Lorient took place this morning at Top Form Squash & Fitness in Larmor Plage, France, with all of the members of the 9/16 seeding bracket making it into the second round of the competition.

The Challenger 5 level tournament is taking place across four days of action, and there were no surprises on the opening morning of action, but Englishman James Peach had to survive a scare to come through his contest with compatriot Curtis Malik in a deciding fifth game.

The pair are separated by just seven places in the World Rankings, and it showed throughout the match, with Malik able to come back into the match after Peach had won both the first and third games of the contest. It was eventually the World No.172 that came through in five, winning the fifth 11-5 to secure victory after 57 minutes of action. He will now face Germany’s No.3 seed Valentin Rapp in the second round.

Only two of the other seven matches in the first round went past three games, with England’s Ben Smith needing to go to four to defeat Frenchman Manu Paquemar, while Scotland’s Fergus Richards also won 3-1, getting the better of another Frenchman, in Quint Mandil.

The second round of the Archi Factory Open Lorient takes place later today, on Wednesday, May 4, with action being streamed live on the club’s Facebook page.

First Round Results: Archi Factory Open Lorient
Abhay Singh (IND) bt Baptiste Bouin (FRA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-2, 11-6 (21m)
Ben Smith (ENG) bt Manu Paquemar (FRA) 3-1: 11-2, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9 (40m)
Joel Arscott (NZL) bt Laszlo Godde (FRA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 (29m)
Roshan Bharos (NED) bt Pablo Dolz (ESP) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (35m)
James Peach (ENG) bt Perry Malik (ENG) 3-2: 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5 (57m)
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt Alasdair Prott (SCO) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 12-10 (31m)
Fergus Richards (SCO) bt Quint Mandil (FRA) 3-1: 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2 (37m)
Edwin Clain (FRA) bt Laouenan Loaec (FRA) 3-0: 11-2, 11-6, 11-5 (23m)

Second Round Draw: To Be Played Wednesday, May 4
[1] Ivan Perez (ESP) v Abhay Singh (IND)
Ben Smith (ENG) v [6] Joeri Hapers (BEL)
[8] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) v Joel Arscott (NZL)
Roshan Bharos (NED) v [4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI)
[3] Valentin Rapp (GER) v James Peach (ENG)
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) v [5] Robin Gadola (SUI)
[7] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) v Fergus Richards (SCO)
Edwin Clain (FRA) v [2] Curtis Malik (ENG)