Salma Khalil (Photo PSA)
Twenty-year-old Salma Khalil scored the only upset of the day at the DR21 Motor City Open as he defeated former World No.17 Adrian Waller in five games to book his spot in the second round in Detroit. After losing the opening game 11-7, the Egyptian responded in strong fashion to win the next two games 11-6, 11-7 and take the lead.
The experience of Waller earned him the fourth game, sending the match to an exciting fifth. Khalil managed to pull away on the scoreboard at the back end of the game to win 11-8 and claim his 12th victory of the season so far. He’ll now take on No.4 seed Dimitri Steinmann in the next round.
Elsewhere on day one, Karim El Hammamy and Leandro Romiglio battled for 86 minutes, with the Egyptian eventually coming out on top 3-2. El Hammamy’s strong showing against former World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy in the Karachi Open has clearly injected some confidence in the former World Junior Champion as he came through 11-7 in the fifth over the Argentine. El Hammamy will now face No.6 seed Nicolas Mueller in round two.
Sam Todd was the only English player of the five to progress from round one yesterday. The Yorkshireman overcame compatriot Simon Herbert in four games. Herbert stormed the first game, winning 11-2. Todd responded by winning the next three games 11-7, 11-4, 11-4. A match against No.2 seed and English No.1 Marwan Elshorbagy awaits Todd in the next round. Sam Osborne-Wylde and Tom Walsh were defeated by Indian duo Velavan Senthilkumar and Ramit Tandon.
Egyptian duo Moustafa Elsirty and Mohamed Elsherbini both secured their spots in round two after beating Sanjay Jeeva and Shahjahan Khan. Balazs Farkas completed the round one fixtures as he moved past fellow European David Bernet in three games.
Results
Round One: [9/16] Balazs Farkas (HUN) bt David Bernet (SUI) 3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 (32m); [9/16] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) bt Shahjahan Khan (USA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 (45m); [9/16] Moustafa Elsirty (EGY) bt Sanjay Jeeva (MAS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 (42m); [9/16] Ramit Tandon (IND) bt Tom Walsh (ENG) 3-1: 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-4 (51m); Salman Khalil (EGY) bt [9/16] Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-2: 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 (56m); [9/16] Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bt Sam Osborne-Wylde (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 (34m); [9/16] Karim El Hammamy (EGY) bt Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 3-2: 6-11, 13-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7 (86m); [9/16] Sam Todd (ENG) bt Simon Herbert (ENG) 3-1: 2-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 (40m)
