Egypt’s 17/32 seed Seif Belal El Shal scored the biggest upset of day two of the British Junior Open in Birmingham after downing the Boys’ U15 second seed Jayden Oon of Malaysia 3-0 before seeing off India’s Subhash Choudhary [17/32] to secure a quarter final spot.
El Shal claimed the first 11-7 against the Malaysian before a monumental second game between the pair followed, which the Egyptian won 24-22. The victory was sealed with an 11-7 success in the third, before the Egyptian saw off Choudhary 3-1 in the evening to clinch his place in the last eight.
There was also a big upset in the Girls’ U15s competition after the USA’s Isabella Tang [9/16] came from behind to see off 3/4 seed Mariam Eissa of England. Eissa was in front with an 11-7 win in the opening game, before Tang responded with 11-7,11-9,11-9 victories to prevail.
In the Under-19s, Switzerland’s 3/4 seed David Bernet battled back from two games down to avoid an upset against Luhann Groenewald [17/32] of South Africa to progress.
Groenewald drew first blood when he came out on top 14-12 in the tiebreak before doubling his advantage with an 11-5 success in the second game. However Bernet landed the perfect riposte with 11-9 and 11-8 in the third and fourth games, before notching an 11-7 victory in the fifth in 74 minutes. Bernet followed that comeback triumph up in the evening with a 3-1 win over Colombia’s Juan Irisarri [9/16] to reach the quarters.
The Swiss will join the rest of the top eight seeds in the Boys’ Under-19s, with top seeds Mohamed Zakaria of Egypt and England’s Jonah Bryant winning 3-0, 3-0 and 3-2, 3-0 against Austria’s 17/32 seed Daniel Lutz and Abdallah Eissa [9/16] of England, and Egypt’s Youssef Asheba [33/64] and USA’s Alexander Dartnell [9/16], respectively.
Meanwhile the top four seeds in the Boys’ and Girls’ U19s advanced to the last eight, while Team USA had a great day with three players winning through to the Boys’ Quarters – Zane Patel, Rishi Srivastava and Hollis Robertson.
In the Girls’ Under-17s competition, the second seed Nadien Elhammamy of Egypt overturned a 2-1 deficit against USA’s Whitney Wilson [9/16] to join the rest of the top eight seeds in the quarter finals.
Having taken the first game 11-9, Elhammamy then fell behind to the American after Wilson edged a tiebreak in the second game 12-10 to level the match before nudging ahead by winning the third. However Elhammamy rallied with 11-6 and 11-9 victories in the fourth and fifth games to prevail in a 66-minute battle.
The top four seeds in the Boys’ U17s all booked their spots in the last eight, all chalking up 3-0 wins in the two matches each of them played -but all four 5/8 seeds were beaten.
The biggest upset in the Girls’ Under-13s saw the 3/4 seed Niea Chew of Malaysia defeated by Egypt’s 9/16 seed Ethar Elhadidy 3-1. Elhadidy opened up a two-game advantage before Chew halved the deficit, however the Egyptian secured the win with a 12-10 victory in the fourth.
All but one of the top eight seeds in the Boys’ Under-13s advanced to the quarters, with India’s Shresht Lyer [5/8] edged out in a five-game battle with Muhammed Sohail Adnan [17/32] of Pakistan.
Elsewhere, the second seed in the Boys’ Under-11s Hisshan Nair Tan of Malaysia had to fight back from 2-1 down against Egypt’s 9/16 Hassan Khater to join the rest of the top four seeds in the quarter finals. The top four seeded players in the Girls’ U11s also safely progressed to the last eight.
The quarter finals take place on Friday, with play starting at 9.30am (UK time).
Watch live streaming from the University of Birmingham Sport and from Edgbaston Priory Club on the British Junior Open WATCH page.
