El Gouna (Egypt), April 5 (IANS) Abhay Singh rallied to beat Egyptian world No. 13 Aly Abou Eleinen 9-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-4, 11-8 in the men’s opening round of the El Gouna Open, a PSA Platinum event.
The Egyptian managed to edge out the first game 11-9. Singh responded immediately in the second, finding his rhythm and leveling the score with an 11-8 win. The momentum swung wildly in the middle of the match. Eleinen dominated the third game, capitalising on a series of unforced errors from Singh to take it 11-3.
Facing a 1-2 deficit, Abhay was completely reset in the fourth, turning the tables with an aggressive 11-4 win to force a decider. He then stunned Eleinen after fighting back from 7-3 down in the deciding game.
World No. 25 Abhay will next meet Egyptian sixth seed and world No. 7 Youssef Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, world No. 20 Anahat Singh lost to world No. 1 Egyptian Hania El Hammamy, who advanced with a 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 first-round win in the women’s section.
The 18-year-old Anahat, the recent Indian Open champion, flew out of the blocks with her unorthodox attacking strokeplay, racing into an early 7-5 lead. However, top seed El Hammamy began to grow into the contest as she fought back to claim the first 11-8, and move through a one-sided second by an 11-5 scoreline.
At 4-0 up in the third game, El Hammamy looked to be home and dry, but Singh showed great character to claw her way back into the contest with a string of stunning winners, winning nine of the next 10 points. Despite El Hammamy bringing the scoreline back to 10-9, Singh held on to force a fourth game with a stunning game-ball winner.
Singh’s deceptive attacks continued to cause El Hammamy issues as the fourth progressed, but it was the 2022 champion who held strong in the latter stages to clinch a hard-fought 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 after 49 minutes of play.
–IANS
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