(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Armstrong Vas | The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar's Abdulla Al Tamimi pulled off the biggest upset on day one of the PSA Men's World Championship as he overcame some anxious moments to defeat World No.14 Gregoire Marche, while two-time champion Mohammed Al Shorbagy along with other seeds progress into the second round.
Also making it to the second round was Qatar's wildcard Syed Azlan Amjad while the third Qatari Hamad Al Amri was not so lucky as he crashed out of the tournament.
Yesterday at the Khalifa International tennis and Squash Complex, the 24-year-old Tamimi ranked World No.47 took 50 minutes to set aside the challenge of the Frenchman, winning 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9 to reach the last 32 stage.
Al Tamimi, has threatened a big upset numerous times in the past and he finally got his first major win on home soil as he defeated Marche.
The Aspire Academy product was sublime in the opening two games as he took a 2-0 lead, with Marche cutting a frustrated figure as he struggled to get the ball deep into the back corners.
A drop in concentration let Marche in, while in the third and the No.15 seed duly obliged to claw a game back.
The fourth went down to the wire but, with his friends and family watching on, Al Tamimi held his nerve to complete the win in 50 minutes, resulting in exultant celebrations from the Doha man. 'I'm really relieved, I've played a lot of matches here, I've had a lot of big battles. I had my chances, but I couldn't make it. I couldn't play that well for a couple of years, and I had to wait for the World Championships in 2019 to finally have my first major win here in Qatar, Al Tamimi said.
'It felt really good, I saw the happiness in my dad's eyes and all of my family and friends are here, so I'm glad I made everyone proud. I don't want to stop here, I'm really looking forward to the next round.
'I lost a bit of concentration and my length in the third game. I was thinking that I had to have a good length at the start of the fourth game because the winners would come after. Even though he was coming back at me, I tried to always keep the lead over him.
Qatar's Abdulla Al Tamimi celebrates his win.
'My goal now is to really focus on the next round and make sure I play well again, if I do then I have a chance to win. He will play another Frenchman, Mathieu Castagnet, for a place in round three. The second Qatari player Amjad made it through to the second round after Spain's Iker Pajares Bernabeu had to forfeit his clash.
The Spaniard had been winning the match 2-1 at the time, but an unfortunate injury to the Qatari, which Pajares accidentally contributed to, meant that the home hope was unable to continue.
As a result, he moves through to the second round, because of the opponent inflicted injury, and therefore by the rules, has to forfeit the match.
New Zealand's Paul Coll booked his place in the last 32 after easing past wildcard Hamad Al-Hamri by an 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 scoreline in just 20 minutes.
Al-Hamri, 19, showed good touches particularly in the front left corner as he pulled Coll away from the 'T' at times, but the World No.5 was too strong for him as he collected a comfortable victory.
His reward will be a round two meeting with Spain's former World No.5 Borja Golan, who beat India's Ramit Tandon in straight games.
'It's been a good start (to the season), there have been a couple of matches that haven't gone my way, but I've learned a lot from those, said Coll.
Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt defeated sixteen seed Daryl Selby of England 11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 11-13, 11-9 to pull another upset of the day.
The other seeds has no problems with the 2017 World Champion Mohamed El Shorbagy taking just 33 minutes to set aside the challenge of 20-year-old Frenchman Victor Crouin.
The 28-year-old has reached three finals so far this season at the China Open, Oracle NetSuite Open and US Open winning the first two and he kick started his attempts to win a second World Championship title with a 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 victory over Crouin.
He takes on Adrian Waller of England in the second-round clash.
Also making it to the next round were Tarek Momen, Mazen Hesham, Fares Dessouky, Edmon Lopez, Greg Lobban, Diego Elias, Simon Rösner, Declan James, Mohamed ElSherbini, Joel Makin, James Willstrop, Cesar Salazar and Karim Abdel Gawad, Paul Coll, Borja Golan, Omar Mosaad, Zahed Salem, Mostafa Asal, Alan Clyne, Miguel Rodriguez Mohamed Abouelghar, Leo Au, Nicolas Mueller, Marwan ElShorbagy, Saurav Ghosal and Lucas Serme.
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