After winning the Swedish Open earlier this month, the Egyptian squeezed past New Zealand's qualifier Paul Coll 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 after 79 minutes of action at the University Club.

"Today was not easy at all,” said Gawad.

“He came through qualification but his level today shows that he is much better than a qualifying player.

"He was the better player today and he had me under pressure from the very start and throughout the match.

"I’m very lucky and happy that I managed to get the win and move through to the next round.”

Number four seed Miguel Angel Rodriguez of Colombia needed four games to knock out England's Chris Simpson, eventually prevailing 11-4, 6-11, 11-18, 12-10 after 76 minutes.

There were no such concerns for number one ranked Mohamed Elshorbagy, however, with the Egyptian brushing aside Scotland's Alan Clyne 11-5, 11-9, 12-10.

In the women's draw there was a similarly comfortable start for England's new world number one Laura Massaro, who was too strong for Denmark's Line Hansen, 11-2, 11-7, 11-5.

Malaysia's number three seed Nicol David beat England's Fiona Moverley 11-5, 11-1, 11-6 while Egypt's number five ranked Nour El Sherbini breezed through 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 against Mexico's Samantha Teran.

"Coming into a World Series tournament as the top seed is a very nice feeling and this is the first time that I’ve ever experienced that so I’m excited to hopefully do well here,” said Massaro.

“I won this event two years ago so I’ll be doing everything I can this week to try and replicate that.

“I feel like my form is pretty good coming into this event.

"I won the British Nationals a few weeks ago and I’m happy with how I played today but I need to make sure I keep on improving and pushing my level up if I want to go all the way and win the title.”

The PSA World Tour tournament continues with further opening round matches tomorrow.