Round Two : Hats off to Alex and Henry

Alex delights home crowd to reach quarters

Home favourite Alex Lau stole the show on Day Two as he downed eighth seed Abdulla Al Tamimi in five to reach the quarter-finals, while Henry Leung upset fifth seed Auguste Dussourd and Tomato Ho advanced to a quarter-final against the top seed.

Quick roundup below the results …

Day Two Roundup : Hats off to Alex and Henry !!

The HKFC crowd went wild last night when home favourite Alex Lau beat dangerous wildcard Edmon Lopez, but they didn’t have to wait long for a second helping as Alex tonight overcame eighth seed Abdulla Al Tamimi – coached by no less than Jonathon Power – twice coming from behind to take it in the fifth, and in the process gaining revenge for his 2019 quarter-final defeat here at Tamimi’s hands.

“I feel unreal at the moment because for me he is a very strong player and I think he’s a top ten player in the world,” said Alex. “Before the match I didn’t think about winning or losing, I just wanted to perform well, but in the first game I didn’t play well.

“Luckily with my style, I could make him tired. In the fifth it was a mental battle, who would get tired first, so I just kept telling myself not to make any mistakes. I just wanted to pick up every single ball and I did that.”

Earlier in the day the crowd had been treated to wins from Tomato Ho – another HKFC player – and Henry Leung, who also avenged a recent defeat at the hands of France’s Auguste Dussourd by winning another five-game tussle.

Ho’s reward is a match against top seed Gina Kennedy, who was pushed to extra points in her first two games against Aira Azman, while Leung also faces the top seed in Mohamed Elsherbini, who needed all five games to get past compatriot Yassin Elshafei.

Second seed Aly Abou Eleinen also faced a fellow Egyptian in the last match of the day, progressing in three.

It was a decent day for Malaysia as third seed Eain Yow Ng progressed in the men’s draw, while Siva Subramaniam ended the hopes of Tong Tsz-Wing and Rachel Arnold edged past eighth seeded Egyptian junior Fayrouz Aboekheir. Rachel’s reward is a quarter-final against another Egyptian junior in Amina Orfi, who beat HK champion Lee Ka Yi in three close games.

Elsewhere England’s SJ Perry and Nathan Lake joined Kennedy in the quarters, French pair Gregoire Marche and Melissa Alves progressed as expected, as did USA’s Sabrina Sobhy and Spain’s Iker Pajares.