Willstrop through as Ashour is forced to exit

The 28-year-old Yorkshireman had little trouble seeing off the challenge of Egyptian qualifier Mohammed Abbas 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 and was further boosted when world No 2 Ramy Ashour - his main threat in the his half of the draw in Doha - was forced to withdraw through injury in his match against England’s Tom Richards.

The former world No 1’s enforced retirement has opened up the bottom half of the men’s draw as, if results had gone to seedings, Willstrop could have expected to meet Ashour in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Willstrop, who will be expected to beat Germany’s Simon Rosner in Tuesday’s second round, still faces a tough task to reach the last four with either Thierry Lincou or fellow Englishman Peter Barker standing in his way at the quarter-final stage.

If successful, Willstrop would then likely meet eighth seed and former world No 1 David Palmer from Australia, his opponent in a number of memorable tussles in recent years.

Sheffield’s world No 1 Nick Matthew is top-seeded for the event and faces Egypt’s Tarek Momen on Tuesday night for the right to face either sixth seed Gregory Gaultier or Indian qualifier Siddarth Suchde in the last eight.

With fifth seed Amr Shabana having been surprisingly beaten in his first round match by Switzerland’s Nicholas Mueller, third seed Karim Darwish, from Egypt, is the man most likely to deny Matthew an appearance in Friday’s final.

In the women’s draw, Harrogate’s world No 2 Jenny Duncalf made it through to the second round with a comfortable 11-6 11-3 11-6 win over German qualifier Sina Wall in just 20 minutes.

Duncalf, 28, the No 2 seed, will now face Egyptian 13th seed Nour Al Tayeb in the second round on Tuesday.