Ammar Al-Tamim, Ahmad Al-Saraj move into quarterfinal – Al Hassan Open 2011
The biggest shock of the day came when 16 year old Jordanian Ahmad Al-Saraj defeated the second seeded Egyptian Karim A G A Samy in the first round of the Al Hassan Open 2011.
The two players took up the challenge at the Al-Hassan International Squash Center in Amman, Jordan and it took the world number 191 only 36 minutes to get rid of the higher ranked as well as second seeded Egyptian in straight
three sets with a score of 11-7, 12-10, 11-7.
Both the players walked onto the court and as Samy won the toss, he served confidently for the opening round. The Egyptian, who is ranked at 129, was certain of an easy win against the younger and less experienced Al-Saraj but
he lost the opening round 7-11.
Nonetheless, he made a return in the second game and matched a blow for a blow against his opponent. The ferocious rally between the two progressed well into the second set and led them to bag ten points each. However, from there
onwards, the 16 year old Jordanian scored two successive games against his opponent and bagged the second set with a 12-10 victory.
Although the second seeded Egyptian had a chance to win the third set, he was unable to keep his focus and lost control of the game. Ultimately Al-Saraj won the third and final game by restricting his opponent to only seven points.
In doing so; he sealed his victory of the set and the match to reserve a spot in the quarterfinal of the tournament.
Simultaneously, in the other match the unseeded Kuwaiti Ammar Al-Tamimi got the best of English qualifier James Simpson in the first round of the tournament.
The 23 year-old Kuwaiti drilled the 22 year old Englishman in straight three sets of 11-3, 11-9, 11-3 in just thirty five minutes of play and became the second unseeded player to qualify for the next round.
The first round of the match was an easy victory for the Kuwaiti but in the second round the 22 year-old Englishman made a tremendous comeback. Though the cat and mouse chase advanced well into the set, the 23 year-old Kuwaiti
eventually clinched the second set. As he repeated the feat, he also bagged the third and final set.
The winners of both the matches will be contesting against each other in the quarterfinal of the tournament.
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