KUWAIT CITY: World number one Gregory Gaultier’s first match as the new man at the top of the rankings gave him a useful start to his bid to become World Open champion.

Economical progress is a priority in a 64-draw field requiring six matches in six days, and the Frenchman achieved that pretty well in an 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 win against Alan Clyne, a qualifier from Scotland.

Gaultier is aware that he has both Nick Matthew, the British Open champion from England, and Ramy Ashour, the defending World Open champion from Egypt, in his half, and that heroic matches against either or both could prevent him from winning his first world title.

He hurtled into a 9-0 lead against Clyne before there was brief interruption to his progress, and then pushed on hard to 8-2 in the second before Clyne began to fathom Gaultier’s versatile, attack-into-defence-into attack, style of play.

The third was better contested, with Clyne pulling the deficit back to only one point after trailing 1-5 and 4-7. Gaultier then visibly focussed hard to finish it off, and expressed his pleasure at having done so.

Asked about whether being world number one had altered his mentality in any way, Gaultier replied: ‘I try not to think about it.

Gaultier next plays Julian Illingworth, the world number 32 from the United States, and if he wins should be within one win of the dangerous Matthew, who needed to play only one game before John Rooney of Ireland retired injured.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Aamir Atlas Khan secured his expected berth in the second round of the championship.

Seeded 17th in the prestigious event, Aamir thrashed unseeded German Simon Rosner recording a formidable 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 win in 34 minutes.

Another Pakistani Yasir Butt conceded a straight game defeat from 2004 champion French Thierry Lincou who eased into the second round after a convincing 11-5, 11-7, 11-3 victory in 32 minutes.

Karim Darwish, the Egyptian who is top of the draw because the seedings are based on last month’s rankings, started with a win over Mansoor Zaman, the Pakistani who is son of the former world number one Qamar Zaman, by 17-15, 11-4, 11-7.

Another front runner, Amr Shabana, the three times former World Open champion from Egypt overcame Shaun le Roux of England 11-6, 11-5, 11-5, while Ashour also enjoyed a pleasantly brief encounter after winning the first game 13-11 against Jorge Isaac Baltazar Ferreira, after which the Mexican retired.

Results:

Men’s (first round):

Gregory Gaultier (FRA x2) bt Alan Clyne (SCO) 11-2, 11-5, 11-7; Karim Darwish (EGY x1) bt Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 17-15, 11-4, 11-7; Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 11-8, 11-9, 11-5; Thierry Lincou (FRA x8) bt Yasir Butt (PAK) 11-5, 11-7 11-3; Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 0-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5; James Willstrop (ENG x11) v Robbie Temple (ENG) 13-11, 11-7, 11-0; Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt Aruro Salazar (MEX) 11-7, 11-4, 11-5; Stewart Boswell (AUS) v Scott Arnold (AUS) 11-8, 12-10, 11-6; Alister Walker (ENG x15) bt Mark Krajcsak (HUN) 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5; Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Abdullah Almezayen (KUW) 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8; Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS x12) v Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 11-6, 11-4, 11-2; Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6; David Palmer (AUS x6) bt Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-5, 11-4, 11-6; Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 11-5, 11-6, 15-1; Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Ben Ford (ENG) 11-9, 11-3, 11-6; Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 6-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5; Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Martin Knight (NZL) 11-6, 11-7, 11-9; Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3; Peter Barker (ENG x7) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-7, 11-2, 12-10; Laurens Jan Anjema (NED x14) bt Rasmus Nielsen (DEN) 15-13, 11-6, 11-5; Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Joe Lee (ENG) 11-6, 11-4, 12-10; Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY x16) bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-7, 11-5, 11-3; Nick Matthew (ENG x5) bt John Rooney (IRL) 11-6, retired; Ong Beng Hee (MAS x13) bt Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) 14-12, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8; Wael El Hindi (EGY x9) bt Stephane Galifi (ITA) 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6; Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt Yann Perrin (FRA) 15-13, 11-6, 6-11, 11-2; Adrian Grant (ENG x10) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6; Amr Swelim (ITA) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-8, 12-10, 11-9; Tom Richards (ENG) bt Arthur Gaskin (IRL) 11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 11-0; Julian Illingworth (USA) bt Kashif Shuja (NZL) 11-5, 11-8, 12-10; Amr Shabana (EGY x4) bt Shaun le Roux (ENG) 11-6, 11-5, 11-6; Ramy Ashour (EGY x3) bt Jorge Isaac Baltazar Ferreira (MEX) 13-11, 0-0 retired.