Men’s Austrian Open RD1: Rehman Through, Peach Downs No.3 Seed

The opening day of the men’s Austrian Open saw some shocks, some five-gamers, and more importantly for the home crowd in Salzburg, Austrian No.1 Aqeel Rehman surviving a scare to make it through to the quarter finals of the Challenger 5 level tournament.

Rehman, the World No.128 and No.5 seed for the competition, took on Ukrainian No.1 Valeriy Fedoruk in the opening round of the event, and the first game of their contest on the glass court at the Europark shopping complex in Salzburg went deep into a tie-break.

The Ukrainian won it 18-16, before Rehman fought back to lead the match after three games. Fedoruk then clinched the fourth game 11-9 to send the tie into a deciding game, where it was Rehman who came out the winner, taking a 3-2 victory after an hour’s play.

The only shock of the day saw England’s James Peach dump out No.3 seed Ivan Perez, who came into the competition after winning the Carlisle Squash Club 50th Anniversary Open just three days earlier. Peach found himself behind in the contest after the Spaniard won the third 12-10. However, from there, the Englishman won the next two games to seal the win, advancing to the last eight after 59 minutes of action.

The tournament’s top seed, Yannick Wilhelmi, also needed to go the distance in his opening match of the competition, with the Swiss player eventually getting the better of England’s Perry Malik. Like Peach, he was behind after three, but fought back to win the next two games to take victory in the longest match of the day. He will now face compatriot Robin Gadola in the last eight.

The quarter finals of the men’s Austrian Open will take place on Thursday, July 7, with the last eight going head-to-head for places in the semi-finals. You can keep up to date with

First Round Results: Austrian Open (Men’s)
[1] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt Perry Malik (ENG) 3-2: 11-8, 8-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-4 (62m)
[8] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) 3-1: 11-1, 10-12, 11-2, 11-7 (42m)
[5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt Valeriy Fedoruk (UKR) 3-2: 16-18, 11-5, 11-4, 9-11, 11-3 (59m)
[4] Diego Gobbi (BRA) bt Nilo Vidal (ESP) 3-0: 11-1, 11-9, 11-5 (27m)
James Peach (ENG) bt [3] Ivan Perez (ESP) 3-2: 11-8, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5 (59m)
[7] Christopher Binnie (JAM) bt Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 (23m)
[6] Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP) bt [WC] Lukas Windischberger (AUT) 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 (28m)
[2] Yannik Omlor (GER) bt Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (37m)

Quarter Final Draw: To Be Played Thursday, July 7
[1] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) v [8] Robin Gadola (SUI)
[5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) v [4] Diego Gobbi (BRA)
James Peach (ENG) v [7] Christopher Binnie (JAM)
[6] Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP) v [2] Yannik Omlor (GER)