Atlas crashes out of Swedish Open

Pakistan squash ace Aamir Atlas loses his opening match of the tournament to Australia’s Stewart Boswell 3-0.

KARACHI: Pakistan squash ace Aamir Atlas crashed out in the first round, while Farhan Meboob moved into the quarter-finals of the Swedish Squash Open 2011 taking place in Linkoping.

Atlas lost his opening match of the $60,000 tournament to Australia’s experienced Stewart Boswell 3-0.  The former Swedish Open champion beat Atlas in just 26 minutes, without giving any chance to the 20-year old to recover his form in the game. Atlas went down in the first set 11-6 and struggled in the second set as the Australian enhanced his lead to 11-3 and won the match 11-5 in the third set. Boswell will play against Egypt’s Karim Darwaish in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Mehboob defeated the French Mathieu Castagnet 3-1. He took the lead in the opening sets 11-7, 11-6, however, Castagnet hit back in the third set 11-6. But Mehboob sealed the victory in the fourth set 11-9 to book a place in the quarter-finals against England’s Peter Barker.

“It was a quick game, a perfect start to the tournament,” Mehboob told The Express Tribune. “However, the quarter-final will be a tough one since English players are formidable opponents and Barker is ranked eighth in the world.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2011.