SQUASH Kevin Moran has come through the qualifying competition to join his Commonwealth Games team-mates Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban in the main draw at the BE Personnel Squash Challenger tournament in Inverness, writes Kevin Ferrie.
The 23-year-old from Paisley did not drop a game in seeing off one of the local hopefuls Ewen Urquhart in the opening round on Tuesday and repeated that result in the decisive second-round defeat of the Englishman Chris Fuller who is close to 20 places above him in the world rankings, holding his nerve to clinch the win by closing out the third game 13-11, after having won the first two 11-9, 11-6.
On what is a first opportunity to play in an event of this calibre in their home city, the involvement of Clyne and Lobban has generated considerable local interest and they have gone straight into the first round proper in which play starts at Inverness Tennis and Squash Club tonight.
Clyne goes into the £15,000 event - it is the biggest professional squash tournament to be staged in Scotland for some 25 years - as top seed and will face a qualifier in his first match, but Lobban has just about the toughest draw possible: he faces the in-form Egyptian Omar Abdel Aziz, the second seed, world No.41 and winner of the recent Norwegian Open, in his opening match.
The 21-year-old will not, though, lack confidence as he has been making steady progress this season and claimed the most significant victory of his career when he defeated Aziz's compatriot Omar Abdel Meguid, the world No.29, at last month's Jersey Open. Jamie Henderson, who received a wild card into the main draw, has been drawn against the English No.7 seed Joel Hinds.
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