Schraglage Squash Open: Quintet of Seeds Falls On First Day

It was both a busy and surprising opening day at the Schraglage Squash Open powered by VASS in Boblingen, Germany, with five of the seeded players being knocked out of the men’s side of the competition.

The Challenger 5 level men’s event got underway on Thursday evening, with four courts of action taking place at the Pink Power club, with the biggest shock of them all seeing Egypt’s Ziad Ibrahim taking out No.2 seed Jakub Solnicky in straight games. Almost 100 places separated the pair in the World Rankings, but it was the Egyptian that was able to win all three tight games, including two with a 13-11 tie-break score-line.

He will now face Sepehr Etemadpoor in the last 16 of the tournament, to guarantee that an unseeded player will move through to the quarter finals in Germany. The Iranian got the better of No.15 seed Liam Marrison, coming back from a game down to defeat the Canadian on a fifth game tie-break.

Elsewhere, there were also surprise wins for Egypt’s Abdelrahman Nassar, Switzerland’s David Bernet and German Julius Benthin, the former of which will now face compatriot Yassin Elshafei, the tournament’s top seed, in the last 6 on Friday afternoon.

Friday will also see the women’s Challenger 3 level competition get underway with 16 players aiming to take home the title from Pink Power. Switzerland’s Nadia Pfister and Germany’s Saskia Beinhard will be the tournament’s top two seeds.

The action continue at the Schraglage Squash Open powered by VASS

*Men’s First Round Results: Schraglage Squash Open powered by VASS*
[1] Yassin Elshafei (EGY) bt Tobias Weggen (GER) 3-0: 11-4, 11-9, 11-4
Abdelrahman Nassar (EGY) bt [16] Nils Roesch (SUI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-6
[9] Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) bt Lukas Windischberger (AUT) 3-0: 13-11, 11-5, 11-4
[7] Joeri Hapers (BEL) bt [WC] Finn Koch (GER) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 11-1
[8] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) bt [WC] Fabian Igelbrink (GER) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-3
[12] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) bt [WC] Tarek Shehata (EGY) 3-1: 11-2, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8
Julius Benthin (GER) bt [10] Valeriy Fedoruk (UKR) 3-: 6-11, 11-4, 14-12, 11-5
[4] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt [WC] Jakob Kanel (SUI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-1
[3] Valentin Rapp (GER) bt [WC] Dennis Welte (GER) 3-0: 11-1, 11-1, 11-4
[13] Karim Elbarbary (EGY) bt Lewis Anderson (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 12-10
[11] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) bt [WC] Sven Stettler 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-4
[5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt [WC] Nils Herzberg (GER) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-4
[6] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) bt [WC] Nils Schwab (GER) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-6
David Bernet (SUI) bt [14] Nilo Vidal (ESP) 3-1: 11-9, 11-2, 9-11, 11-9
Sepehr Etemadpoor (IRI) bt [15] Liam Marrison (CAN) 3-2: 5-11, 12-10, 12-14, 11-9, 12-10
Ziad Ibrahim (EGY) bt [2] Jakub Solnicky (CZE) 3-0: 13-11, 11-9, 13-11

*Men’s Second Round Draw: To Be Played Saturday, July 23*
[1] Yassin Elshafei (EGY) v Abdelrahman Nassar (EGY)
[9] Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) v [7] Joeri Hapers (BEL)
[8] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) v [12] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE)
Julius Benthin (GER) v [4] Robin Gadola (SUI)
[3] Valentin Rapp (GER) v [13] Karim Elbarbary (EGY)
[11] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) v [5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT)
[6] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) v David Bernet (SUI)
Sepehr Etemadpoor (IRI) v Ziad Ibrahim (EGY)

*Women’s First Round Draw: To Be Played Saturday, July 23*
[1] Nadia Pfister (SUI) v Tereza Siroka (CZE)
Lilou Brevard-Belliot (FRA) v [5] Katerina Tycova (GER)
[8] Polly Clark (ENG) v Stella Kaufmann (SUI)
Aylin Gunsav (GER) v [3] Alicia Mead (ENG)
[4] Sofia Mateos (ESP) v Catherine Holland (SCO)
Anastasia Kostiukova (UKR) v [6] Katie Wells (ENG)
[7] Jacqueline Peychar (AUT) v Maisara Azlan (MAS)
[WC] Alina Poessl (SUI) v [2] Saskia Beinhard (GER)