(27.08.2014) The women’s and men's bottom half of the first round of Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open 2014 carried on today at Hong Kong Squash Centre with most of the seeded players safely passed through to the second round. Local favourites and the sixth seed, Annie Au Wing-chi joined her fellow Joey Chan Ho-ling in the last sixteen after her win today.

Annie Au, the world No. 9, played against the lower-ranked Egyptian Heba El Torky. Without much pressure, Annie kept her pace and played couples of winning shots to finish at a straight 11-6, 11-4 and 11-4 in only 26 minutes. She will meet the Aussie, Rachael Grinham at 5:30pm tomorrow.  

Another local player, Tong Tsz Wing put on a good show against the world No.7 Low Wee Wern before losing 1-3 to the Malaysian. Leading the first game 11-7 but losing the following two sets in 4-11 and 2-11, Tong continued to fight hard to come back in the forth from 3-10 down to 8–10. However the more experienced Low is the better player on court this time to close the last game at 11-8. “Wee Wern is very experienced and she is one of the most stable players in the circuit. I have to stay consistent on court and mix the shots more,” said Tong after the match.    

Wilcard Yip Tsz Fung lost to Chris Simpson 3-11, 4-11 and 7-11 and failed to get through to the second round.

After Nicol David and Gregory Gaultier, the second seed of both Men’s and Women’s event, Laura Massaro and Mohamed Elshorbagy defeated their opponents and marched into the second round. Laura will meet the young Egyptian player, Nouran Gohar at 6:30pm tomorrow. Gohar dispatched Joshana Chinappa from India at a straight today. Mohamed Elshorbagy will play against Chris Simpson at 8:30pm tomorrow. 

The second round of the competition will kick off tomorrow at 1:30pm at Hong Kong Squash Centre. In addition to Annie Au and Laura Massaro, seed number 1 Nicol David and Joey Chan will also be on court. For the men’s event, the first seed Gregory Gaultier will meet Fares Dessouki at 4:30pm. The forth seed Borja Golan went through after his opponent LJ Anjema pulled out due to injury and he will meet Mohamed Abouelghar at 7:30pm.

Please click here for the updated results and schedule!