R1: Youssef Ibrahim 3-1 Raphael Kandra

“I had a three-week preparation from the last tournament, things weren’t going too well and I was rushing a lot of things and I had to find my game a little bit and be more disciplined in the back corners. Raphael [Kandra] is one of the most experienced players on Tour, he’s very experienced and he plays the big points very well. Last time I played him he beat me in three, I was injured and he played super well.

“Today I was determined to take each point as if it was the last point and I didn’t want to play too attacking as I was hitting too many tins. I was very happy with how the three games went, I was very disciplined and consistent. I’m happy I won 3-0.

“He’s never going to go down without a fight. He was coming back strong in the third and if he won that it would have been very hard to compete with him in the fourth. I was trying to put as much work into him in the third and that might have given me an advantage in the fourth, but I was happy I was clinical in the crucial points and won the third game.

“Makin is a different player to Kandra – he’s not going to push me to the front of the court as much as Kandra does. He’s one of the most physical players on Tour, but at this stage everyone is physical, everyone has a game and I don’t think physicality means much at this point. It’s more who’s disciplined and consistent in the back corners and who plays the game better. I’m not really focusing too much on how he plays and I’m going to focus on how I play.”