Simpson to face world No. 3 in Hong Kong
CHRIS SIMPSON raced through the opening match of his new season yesterday and the reward is a clash with the world number three.
The Guernseyman needed just 26 minutes to see off the challenge of home wild card Tsz Fung Yip 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 in the first round of the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open.
Having eased past a youngster ranked 91 places below him in the rankings, though, Simpson (pictured) now faces a much tougher examination in the form of second seed Mohamed Elshorbagy at the $150,000 PSA World Series Platinum event.
The two have met only once before in a PSA tournament, with the Egyptian coming from two games down on that occasion to beat Simpson in a marathon first-round encounter at last year's Qatar Classic.
Elshorbagy had to overcome a player ranked higher than Simpson (WR23) in yesterday's first round and he had to save a game ball in the fourth to prevent his fellow Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad, the world No. 18, from taking him to a decider.
The second seed eventually came through 11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10 in 52 minutes.
Simpson's match with Elshorbagy will be the last of the second round matches on court at the Hong Kong Squash Centre and is scheduled for 8.30pm local time, 1.30pm BST.
