Tom Walsh (Photo PSA)
The opening day at the Pittsburgh Open 2026 saw English duo Finnlay Withington and Tom Walsh scoring seeding upsets.
Walsh was the first of the two to move into the second round. He needed just three games and 40 minutes to defeat Egypt’s Moustafa Elsirty. Walsh took the opening game 11-8 before finding even better form in game two to double his lead, winning 11-5. The final game saw a more competitive approach by Elsirty. He moved to 10-7, looking certain to halve the deficit. Walsh stormed back to win the next five points and take his place in round two.
Walsh’s compatriot Withington followed Tom on court 2 at the Rivers Club. Withington was up against Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue and produced his A game to advance to round two. Withington lost the opening game 11-6 but came firing back, winning 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 in the followinf three games to advance.
Elsewhere, Switzerland’s David Bernet caused an upset as he recovered from 2-1 down to defeat Germany’s Raphael Kandra in 71-minutes. Despite taking the opening game 11-4, Bernet fell under Kandra’s spell in the next two games, as the former British Open semi-finalist rolled back the years to find superb winners and take a 2-1 lead. The consistency of Bernet paid dividends in the next two games as he saved a match ball in the fourth game before going on to win the game then take the fifth 11-7.
It was smooth sailing for the rest of the 9/16 seeds in round one with Egyptian duo Mohamed ElSherbini and Adam Hawal, Muhammad Ashab Irfan, Balazs Farkas and Simon Herbert all advancing through to the last 16.
The top seeds enter the fray for round two with No.8 seed Veer Chotrani taking on Adam Hawal being one of the highlights of the second round.
RESULTS
Round One
[9/16] Balazs Farkas (HUN) bt [WC] Hao Cui (USA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-1, 11-7 (28m)
[9/16] Adam Hawal (EGY) bt Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (46m)
[9/16] Muhammad Ashab Irfan (PAK) bt Perry Malik (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (34m)
[9/16] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt [WC] Nathan Kueh (MAS) 3-1: 11-5, 11-2, 12-14, 11-5 (39m)
Finnlay Withington (ENG) bt [9/16] Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) 3-1: 6-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 (44m)
[9/16] Mohamed ElSherbini (SLO) bt Joseph White (AUS) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-1 (43m)
David Bernet (SUI) bt [9/16] Raphael Kandra (GER) 3-2: 11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7 (71m)
Tom Walsh (ENG) bt [9/16] Moustafa Elsirty (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 (40m)
