Strong-favourites Egypt and second-seeds England completed comfortable 3-0 wins against unfancied opponents in the first round of pool matches at Modern Squash and Salle Vallier.

The first match saw three-times champions Egypt, who have three of the world’s top four squad players in their squad, take on Pakistan.

Despite the difficult circumstances undoubtedly surrounding the Egyptian team following the attack at the Bir el-Abed mosque last Friday which killed 305 people, they put in an exemplary performance.

England had a bit more trouble getting through their tie against Argentina, particularly in the second match in which world number 10 James Willstrop almost suffer a shock defeat to Roberto Pezzota.

The three-time World Team championship gold medallist lost the first game 11-7 to his Argentine opponent but managed to rally back to claim the next two games by 11-2 scorelines.

Pezzota, whose highest world ranking is 76, managed to take the match to a decider by winning the fourth game 11-9.

Unfortunately for the 34-year-old, there was to be no fairytale ending as Willstrop took the fourth and final game 11-6.

Germany, New Zealand, Hong Kong and India, seeded seventh, sixth, fifth and eighth respectively, also managed to come through their matches without losing a single individual tie.

The final two matches of the day saw number three and four seeds France and Australia take on Ireland and the Czech Republic respectively.

Australia had little trouble dealing with their Czech opponents as all three of their players won without conceding a single game.

France, on the other hand, struggled against outsiders Republic of Ireland, despite the advantage of being on a home court.

Lucas Serme and Grégoire Marche, in particular, seemed to be out-of-form as they both lost games to their unfancied Irish opponents, Sean Conroy and Brian Byrne.

After both matches were tied at 1-1, the French duo pulled through to claim the win, both winning by a 3-1 scoreline.

There were no such problems for world number one Grégory Gaultier, who thrashed Arthur Gaskin 3-0 in just 29 minutes.

Prior to the tournament, Marseille Deputy Mayor of Sports Richard Miron had revealed that this Championship would be the closing event of the city’s celebration as the 2017 European Capital of Sports.