Welsh players Owain Taylor and Elliott Morris Devred were winners on the opening day of Rhiwbina SRC’s $11,000 PSA Welsh Open.
University of Nottingham student Taylor took 69 minutes to upset Nick Wall in four games, while wildcard Morris Devred from Cardif SRC defeated Syed Ali Bukhari, also in four games.
Bokhari, from Lahore, is ranked 163 in the World, while Morris Devred is at 240.
They join Rhiwbina’s own Peter Creed plus Emyr Evans in round two, where Taylor takes on Finland’s fifth seed Miko Aijanen and Devred meets third seed Creed.
All four Welshmen play for Welsh Wizards in the Premier Squash League.
This is the third annual PSA Welsh Open and the top two seeds are England’s Richie Fallows and Barcelona-born Edmon Lopez, who also plays for Wizards.
There were 11 countries represented through the first round draw and they were England, Spain, France, Finland, Croatia, Spain, Italy, India, Pakistan, Germany and Wales.
The top four seeds are all ranked inside the World’s top 100 players.
Rhiwbina Welsh Open $11,000 men’s tournament new seedings:
1 Richie Fallows (England, World ranking 56)
2 Edmon Lopez (Spain, 62)
3 Peter Creed (Wales, 63)
4 Benjamin Aubert (France, 97)
5 Miko Aijanen (Finland, 107)
6 Emyr Evans (Wales, 115)
7 Abbay Singh (India, 120)
8 Matias Tuomi (Finland, 127)
Purchase your Welsh Open tickets here https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/rhiwbina-squash-club-open
Results and matches tonight:
First round:Hugo Varela (Spain) beat Martin Kagel (Croatia) 11-8, 11-9, 12-10 (48 mins); Miles Jenkins (England) beat Valentin Rapp (Germany) 11-5, 11-2, 10-12, 9-11, 11-9 (81 mins); Elliott Morris Devred (Wales) beat Syed Ali Bokhari (Pakistan) 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9 46mins); James Peach (England) beat Rob Downer (England) 11-9, 11-9,11-6 (36 mins); Owain Taylor(Wales) beat Nick Wall (England) 11-9, 11-2, 6-11, 11-4 (69 mins); Harry Falconer (England) beat Mark Fuller (Eng;and) 13-11, 11-7, 8-11,4-11, 11-5 (70 mins); Stuart Macgregor (England) 11-2, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 (66 mins).
Second round matches this evening: Richie Fallows (England) v Hugo Varela (Spain), Matias Tuomi (Finland) beat Yuri Farnetti (Italy), Abnay Singh (India) v Miles Jenkins (England), Peter Creed (Wales) v Elliott Morris Devred (Wales), James Peach (England) v Benjamin Auubert (France), Harry Falconer (England) v Emyr Evans (Wales), Stuart Macgregor (England) v Edmon Lopez (Spain).