KARACHI, Dec 17: Pakistan’s Shahid Zaman moved into the second round of the Saudi International squash championship but his compatriot Mansoor Zaman fell at the first hurdle in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Khobar on Friday night.

Shahid got through the first round without hitting a single shot as he was awarded a walk-over against South African qualifier Rodney Durbach.

Mansoor was outclassed in straight games by Malaysia’s Muhammad Azlan Iskander. The Malaysian won 11-7,11-6,11-1 in just 19 minutes.

David Palmer survived the toughest battle of all the first round matches.

However, the sixth-seeded Australian dropped the first game, and was taken to a tie-break in the second, before finally emerging victorious 8-11, 11-10, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 in 80 minutes over unseeded Egyptian Mohammed Abbas. It was Abbas who was in action in the final match of the World Championship, extending England’s Peter Nicol in a 44-minute title-decider.

Palmer, the world No 4 who could begin next year at the top of the world rankings if successful in Saudi, now meets another Egyptian for a place in the last eight. Karim Darwish, the tenth seed, recovered from a game down to beat Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee 4-11, 11-6, 11-10, 11-7 in 47 minutes.

England’s world team championship-winning heroes all claimed places in the second round without incident. Squad No1 James Willstrop, the eighth seed, dismissed French qualifier Renan Lavigne 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, while seventh seed Peter Nicol beat compatriot Adrian Grant 11-9, 11-8, 11-6. Fifth seed Lee Beachill needed four games to overcome Dutch qualifier Laurens Jan Anjema 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4 while 11th seed Nick Matthew defeated Egyptian Wael El Hindi 11-5, 10-11, 11-7, 11-1.

First round results: Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Joseph Kneipp (AUS) 11-8, 11-4, 11-2 (28m); Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Stewart Boswell (AUS) 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 (46m); James Willstrop (ENG) bt Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7 (28m); Shahid Zaman (PAK) bt Rodney Durbach (RSA) w/o; Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt Ramy Ashour (EGY) 11-6, 11-10, 11-6 (43m); Graham Ryding (CAN) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-4, 11-2, 11-9 (38m); Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-9,11-8, 11-6 (43m); John White (SCO) bt Peter Barker (ENG) w/o; Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Mansoor Zaman (PAK) 11-7, 11-6, 11-1 (19m); Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4 (51m); Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-5,10-11 (1-3), 11-7, 11-1

Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Alex Gough (WAL) 11-10(3-1), 11-5, 11-10 (3-1) (41m); Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 4-11,11-6, 11-10 (2-0), 11-7 (47m); David Palmer (AUS) bt Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 8-11,11-10 (3-1), 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 (80m); Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Bandare Alotaibi (KSA) 11-3, 11-1, 11-3 (18m);Jonathon Power (CAN) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-6, 11-3, 11-7 (39m).—PPI