Canadian Trio Progresses Through Women’s Qualifying; Al Tamimi Upsets Marche to Reach Main Draw
September 26, 2017 By Chris McClintick no Comments
Samantha Cornett (r) and Danielle Letourneau were two of four Canadian women in the qualifying finals.
The 2017 Oracle NetSuite Open men’s and women’s main draws are complete following Monday night’s qualifying finals at Bay Club San Francisco and the Olympic Club.
Abdulla Al Tamimi (image: Ben Ng)
Qatar’s Abdulla Al Tamimi pulled off the biggest upset of the day in the men’s draw, taking out France’s one seed Gregoire Marche 11-8, 3-11, 11-9, 11-6. The twenty-two-year old from Doha will make his second consecutive appearance in the Oracle NetSuite Open main draw against England’s four seed James Willstrop.
Colombia’s Miguel Angel Rodriguez came back from 2-1 down to defeat Egypt’s Mazen Hesham 7-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-4 in seventy minutes. Two seed Mohamed Elshorbagy awaits Rodriguez in the main draw. An all-Scottish match up between Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban clocked in at seventy-one minutes across four games. Clyne fought off five game balls in the fourth game to defeat his teammate to slot into the main draw against Tarek Momen.
The women’s draw saw three Canadian women progress to the main draw. In her tournament debut, world No. 29 Samantha Cornett defeated fellow Canadian Danielle Letourneau in three games and thirty-three minutes.
Hollie Naughton held off New Zealand’s Amanda Landers-Murphy in five games to reach her first main draw in San Francisco. Nikki Joined her teammates with a four-game come-back win against Egypt’s Nouran El Torky.
Three Bay Area clubs are set for first round action Tuesday as Bay Club San Francisco prepares to host the first slate of matches from noon local time, and Bay Club Redwood Shores and University Club hosting matches at 5pm local time.