ElShorbagy and King Headline Macau Open Draws

#PSAWorldTour

The draws for the 2016 Macau Open, PSA M50 & W50 tournaments have been released with World No.6 Marwan ElShorbagy and World No.9 Joelle King named the top seeds in the Men’s and Women’s events, respectively, ahead of the start date on Thursday September 15.

ElShorbagy, who plays Australia’s Rex Hedrick in round one, is coming off the back of a superb season that saw him win two PSA World Tour titles in addition breaking into the world’s top 10 and the Egyptian will look to improve on the quarter-final finish he managed at last year’s tournament.

Bristol-based ElShorbagy is seeded to meet Indian National Champion Saurav Ghosal in the final, but will need to battle through a highly competitive field that could see him come up against defending champion Max Lee, who ended ElShorbagy’s tournament last year, in the semi-final stage.

Ghosal, meanwhile, makes his first appearance at this tournament since 2014 and the World No.17 opens up against a qualifier, while the likes of World No.32 Nicolas Mueller and World No.20 Daryl Selby could lie in wait for the man from Kolkata in the quarter-final and semi-final stages, respectively.

World No.224 Steven Liu will be flying the flag for Macau and the country’s number one player has been named the tournament wildcard. The 22-year-old faces Malaysian No.1 Nafiizwan Adnan in the opening round.

Elsewhere, King is the pre-tournament title favourite in the Women’s event, with her nearest challenger likely to be second seed Annie Au, who this month returned to the world’s top 10.

King could come up against the dangerous Emily Whitlock in the quarter-final, while World No.17 Delia Arnold, who begins her tournament against wildcard Liu Kwai Chi, is seeded to meet the New Zealander in the last four.

Au also has a difficult path to the final, with the likes of World No.20 Joey Chan and former World No.2 Jenny Duncalf competing on her side of the draw.

2016 Macau Open – Men’s First Round Draw
[1] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Rex Hedrick (AUS)
[Qualifier] v [8] Alan Clyne (SCO)
[5] Leo Au (HKG) v Ivan Yuen (MAS)
Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) v [3] Max Lee (HKG)
[4] Daryl Selby (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[WC] Steven Liu (MAC) v [7] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)
[6] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [2] Saurav Ghosal (IND)

2016 Macau Open – Women’s First Round Draw
[1] Joelle King (NZL) v [Qualifier]
Olivia Blatchford (USA) v [5] Emily Whitlock (ENG)
[8] Heba El Torky (EGY) v [Qualifier]
[WC] Liu Kwai Chi (MAC) v [4] Delia Arnold (MAS)
[3] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v [Qualifier]
Line Hansen (DEN) v [7] Donna Urquhart (AUS)
[6] Joey Chan (HKG) v [Qualifier]
Coline Aumard (FRA) v [2] Annie Au (HKG)