Things Are Heating Up... Ashour Leads 2-0

With Ashour down 8-9, a long rally ensued before the two players backpedaled 15 feet or so into the back corner, hitting it with a loud "thud." Ashour was awarded a let and Matthew got into it with the referee, Mike Riley, before play resumed. 

The Brit won the following point to get to 10-8 and two game balls to him, and swatted the ball against the back wall after the point, still miffed about the let call on the previous point. Riley gave the Yorkshireman a warning for ball abuse, to which Matthew replied, "player abuse."

He then added, "the ball can cope!" to great comic effect, as the crowd burst out in laughter.

A beautiful backhand drop got Ashour to 10-all and he closed out the game 13-11 after 38 minutes of play with yet another dazzling drop volley into the nick.