Gough Survives Qualifying Marathon In Qatar
 

Qatar Men's World Open Squash Championship, Doha, Qatar

 Welshman Alex Gough survived an 80-minute marathon against England's Joey Barrington - including a tie-break which went to 10-8 - to earn a place in the first round of the Qatar Men's World Open Squash Championship, which gets underway tomorrow (Sunday) in the Qatar capital Doha.

Gough prevailed 11-10 8-11 11-6 11-6 and is now drawn to meet Egypt's 15th seed Omar Elborolossy.  Two other Egyptians made it through the qualifying finals - Mohamed Essam A Hafiz and Wael El Hindi.  Hafiz needed more than an hour to overcome England's Peter Barker 11-9 10-11 11-7 11-10 while his compatriot twice had to come from behind before conquering France's Stephane Galifi 10-11 11-2 9-11 11-10 11-9 in 68 minutes.

Hafiz now faces England's third seed Peter Nicol, a former champion, while El Hindi takes on fellow countryman Mohammed Abbas, the 16th seed.

In the first qualifying round of the Women's Qatar Classic, Dianne Desira conceded just two points to Dagmar Vermeulen, but the Dutch player kept the Australian on court for 65 minutes before Desira was able to claim her 9-0 9-0 9-2 win.

Qualifying finals:
Alex Gough (WAL) bt Joey Barrington (ENG)   11-10 (10-8), 8-11, 11-6, 11-6 (80m)
Tommy Berden (NED) bt Alister Walker (ENG)  5-11, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4 (67m)
Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt Mansoor Zaman (PAK)  11-8, 11-8, 11-4 (24m)
Mohamed Essam A Hafiz (EGY) bt Peter Barker (ENG)   11-9, 10-11 (1-3), 11-7, 11-10 (5-3) (65m)
Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY)    11-10 (2-0), 11-8, 11-7 (36m)
Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)   11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (33m)
Bradley Ball (ENG) bt Shahid Zaman (PAK)    11-5, 10-11 (1-3), 11-8, 11-3 (44m)
Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt Stephane Galifi (FRA)    10-11 (0-2), 11-2, 9-11, 11-10 (3-1), 11-9 (68m)

Women's Qatar Classic,

 Doha, Qatar
1st qualifying round:
Alison Waters (ENG)     bye
Ellen Petersen (DEN) bt Kasey Brown (AUS)   1-9, 9-5, 9-0, 9-0 (58m)
Amelia Pittock (AUS)    bye
Runa Reta (CAN) bt Suzie Pierrepont (ENG)   8-10, 9-4, 9-5, 9-0 (42m)
Tamsyn Leevey (NZL)     bye
Rebecca Botwright (ENG) bt Manuela Manetta (ITA)    9-1, 9-1, 9-7 (30m)
Melissa Martin (AUS)    bye
Eman El Amir (EGY) bt Hend Osama (EGY)  3-9, 9-10, 9-4, 9-4, 9-4 (52m)
Heidi Mather (AUS) bt Jenna Gates (ENG)     9-2, 9-4, 9-3 (35m)
Sharon Wee (MAS)    bye
Dianne Desira (AUS) bt Dagmar Vermeulen (NED)   9-0, 9-0, 9-2 (65m)
Engy Kheirallah (EGY)   bye
Line Hansen (DEN) bt Karen Kronemeyer (NED)     10-9, 9-7, 4-9, 1-9, 9-4 (55m)
Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG)    bye

Katie Patrick (CAN) bt Olga Puigdemont Sola (ESP)   9-5, 9-2, 2-9, 9-4 (52m)
Tegwen Malik (WAL)  bye