GROWTHPOINT S.A. OPEN: HOME FAVOURITE POTGIETER KNOCKED OUT BY EGYPT’S ELMASRY

South African No.2 Christo Potgeiter suffered a premature exit from the Growthpoint S.A. Open, as he was beaten by Egypt’s Abdallah Elmasry in the first round of the World Championships qualifying event.

The Growthpoint S.A. Open is one of five qualifying events for the CIB PSA Women’s World Championship 2019-2020 and the PSA Men’s World Championship 2019-2020, with the winners of this event automatically qualifying for the respective tournament.

The Growthpoint event is the first World Championship qualifier of the season, and there is a strong international field, which includes France’s Lucas Serme and Egypt’s Salma Youssef as the top seeds.

The first day’s action in Cape Town saw World No.452 Abdallah Elmasry get one of the best wins of his career, as he downed South African No.2 Christo Potgeiter in four games, beating the man ranked 173 places above him in the World Rankings.

The rest of the action on day one of the men’s event saw the favourites easily progress to the next round with comfortable wins.

The Growthpoint S.A. Open continues on Tuesday for the second day’s action, which will see the round of 16 played at the Western Province Squash Club.

The women’s event gets underway on the second day’s play in Cape Town, with those who progress to the quarter-finals then heading to the V&A Waterfront to play on the all glass squash court.

Results – Men’s First Round
Wayne Sithole (RSA) bt Hayden Worth (RSA) 3-0: 11-1, 11-3, 11-6
Abdallah Elmasry (EGY) bt Christo Potgieter (RSA) 3-1: 16-14, 7-11, 11-6, 11-2
Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek (EGY) bt Armando Olguin (MEX) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-4
Ruan André Olivier (RSA) bt Javier Martin (ESP) 3-1: 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5
Kelvin Ndhlovu (ZAM) bt [WC] Makho Ntuli (RSA) 3-0: 11-5, 12-10, 11-5
Hazen Ahmed Helmy (EGY) bt [I] Jacques Duminy (RSA) 3-1: 11-5, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9
Faisal Hassan (ZIM) bt Robert Howarth (RSA) 3-0: 11-4, 12-10, 11-6
Gary Wheadon (RSA) bt Tremayne McDonald (RSA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-0, 11-6

Draw – Men’s Second Round
[1] Lucas Serme (FRA) v Wayne Sithole (RSA)
Abdallah Elmasry (EGY) v [7] Ahmed Hassan (ZIM)
[6] Blessing Muhwati (ZIM) v Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek (EGY)
Ruan André Olivier (RSA) v [4] Tristan Eysele (RSA)
[3] Ahmed Hosny (RSA) v Kelvin Ndhlovu (ZIM)
Hazen Ahmed Helmy (EGY) v [5] Omar Elkattan (EGY)
[8] Khaled Labib (EGY) v Faisal Hassan (ZIM)
Gary Wheadon (RSA) v [2] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)

Draw – Women’s First Round
[1] Salma Youssef (EGY) – Bye
[I] Siyoli Waters (RSA) v [7] Farah Momen (EGY)
[8] Alexa Pienaar (RSA) v [I] Jordyn Campbell (RSA)
[3] Menna Hamed (EGY) – Bye
[4] Cindy Merlo (SUI) v Thaisa Serafini (BRA)
Makgosi Peloakgosi (RSA) v [5] Milnay Louw (RSA)
[6] Marie Stephan (FRA) v [I] Bongi Seroto (RSA)
[2] Anna Serme (CZE) – Bye