Men's top seed Paul Coll won his opening match at the PSA World Championships in Cairo ©PSA World Tour

Top seeds Paul Coll of New Zealand and Nouran Gohar of Egypt were among the winners on the opening day of the Professional Squash Association World Squash Championships in Cairo.

A busy day of action at the Club S Allegria saw the start of men’s and women’s singles first round action.

In the men’s draw top seed Coll defeated Egyptian wildcard Seif Shenawy 11-5, 11-3, 11-8.

On a good day for the top seeds third seed Mohamed ElShorbagy of Egypt defeated Balazs Farkas of Hungary 11-8, 11-2, 11-6.

Sixth seed Tarek Momen of Egypt was made to work hard for his straight games triumph defeating Eain Yow Ng of Malaysia 15-13, 11-6, 11-9.

Fellow Egyptian Fares Dessouky, the eighth seed, swept aside Portugal’s Rui Soares 11-4, 11-2, 11-2.

Ninth seed Joel Makin of Wales overcame Leandro Romiglio of Argentina 11-8, 11-4, 11-2, while tenth seed Mazen Hesham of Egypt defeated David Baillargeon of Canada 11-9, 11-7, 11-7.

Women's top seed Nouran Gohar started her PSA World Championships campaign with a straight games win on home soil in Cairo ©PSA World Tour
Women's top seed Nouran Gohar started her PSA World Championships campaign with a straight games win on home soil in Cairo ©PSA World Tour

In the women’s draw, top seed Gohar beat France’s Enora Villard 11-7, 11-6, 11-2, on a day where things were also comfortable for the top female seeds.

Fourth seed Amanda Sobhy of the United States brushed past compatriot Haley Mendez 11-4, 11-4, 11-1, recording the quickest win of the day as she claimed victory in 17 minutes.

The other top ten women’s seeds in action were fifth seed Joelle King of New Zealand, who beat Tsz-Wing Tong of Hong Kong 11-7, 11-5, 11-8, while eighth seed Rowan Elaraby of Egypt beat England’s Millie Tomlinson 11-5, 11-5, 11-9.  

First round action is due to continue tomorrow with men’s and women’s defending champions Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini, both of Egypt, set to open their campaigns.