R1: Ali eases through Wild Card Aly Ezzat

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[1] Ali Farag (EGY) 3-0 Aly Ezzat (EGY) 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (24m)

Defending El Gouna International Champion Ali Farag got his campaign underway tonight as he wasted no time in dispatching 17-year-old wildcard Aly Ezzat in straight games.

The youngster did his best to twist and turn the World No.2 but the ball placement of Farag was always testing the junior, who was struggling to make any inroads.

After taking the opening game 11-5, Ezzat started to benefit from some uncharacteristic Farag errors in game two =, giving hope to the wildcard. Farag managed to pull ahead on the scoreboard to 10-9 and after an unsuccessful review for the youngster, Farag was 2-0 up.

The end came quick for Ezzat who lost the third game 11-5 to send Farag through to the next round, where he will face another youngster in the form of England’s Jonah Bryant.

Ali : “Today was the first match, I needed to find my rhythm. Coming up against a great friend in Aly, very good friends with the family, so it wasn’t easy playing him, but really enjoyable. Now I can focus on the next match, take it point by point, match by match and hopefully I can hold that trophy again.

“The tournament has been my main focus but obviously my training has to evolve as always and of course Mostafa [Asal] has come up with a great overall game, he’s just a complete player and that makes you work harder against him in matches and training.

“Not only Mostafa but everyone else it getting up to win these prestigious events and then hopefully the World Championships, so I have to be always evolving and the aim of my fitness trainer and everyone around me so hopefully I can keep evolving.”