The Egyptian had been handed an opening match against English wildcard Nathan Lake and the local player offered up a strong challenge.

Farag ultimately proved too good for his opponent, but only earned narrow wins in both games as he emerged as an 11-8, 11-9 winner.

The tournament is the first ranking PSA World Tour event to be played using a best-of-three games scoring format up until the semi-finals and final, where it will revert to the traditional best-of-five scoring.

Farag will now face Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly, with their match set to take place tomorrow.

Australian number one Cuskelly battled past Spain’s Borja Golan by a 11-5, 6-11, 11-7 scoreline.

It marked the first time he had beaten the Spaniard on the PSA World Tour circuit.

“It was my first time playing best of three and I was very edgy because every point is pretty important and Golan has had some good results in the last few weeks,” Cuskelly said.

“It’s good to try it [best of three], a lot of sports are trying shorter versions.

“Golf’s doing super sixes and cricket’s got Twenty20, so I think squash has got to follow suit, try it and see how it goes.”

Fourth seeded Egyptian Tarek Momen beat France's Gregoire Marche 11-7, 11-6 in their first round match.

Momen will play  England’s James Willstrop, who overcame Scotland’s Greg Lobann 11-6, 11-7.