Mohammed El-Beiali was on the brink of exit after squandering a 2-0 lead against Italy’s Matteo Mutti but the Egyptian knew how to maneuver himself out of trouble water with a dramatic win over Matteo Mutti (11-9, 16-14, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6) in the second round of the qualifiers played at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Listed as the No.5-seeded for Men’s Singles qualifying, El-Beiali had bundled out his compatriot – Youssef Abdel-Aziz in the first round and with an eye on the main draw in his first WTT Grand Smash appearance, El-Beiali’s dream was nearly scuttled by the Italian but the 35-year-old mustered up one final push, digging deep to close out the match 3-2, kickstarting wild celebrations throughout the arena.
The Egyptian will face another Arab star Noshad Alamiyan of Iran in the third round of the qualifiers on Friday, May 3, in his bid to break into the lucrative main draws.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has been drawn against Indian legend Sharath Achanta in the first round of the men’s singles at the $2m prize money Saudi Smash.
Aruna who has dropped down the pecking order of the world ranking is hoping to salvage some ranking points from the Saudi Smash after a disappointing outing in previous outing at the WTT tournaments.
But the Nigerian will face a familiar opponent in Achanta whose performance in recent times has been impressive. The Indian is getting better with age and he hopes to use his wealth of experience when he confronts the African on Saturday, May 4.
Also, Africa’s highest ranked player Omar Assar of Egypt is yet to get his first round opponent as he awaits qualifiers from the final of the qualifying stage.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s duo of Dina Meshref will commence their campaigns from the money-spinning main draws while Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou is one win away from reaching her first main draws at her maiden outing at WTT Smash as she faces Izabela Lupulesku of Serbia in the final qualifying round on Friday, May 3.