Knight, Coll lead Kiwi Charge

Martin Knight and Paul Coll have won through to the semi-final of the NZ International Classic in Palmerston North.

A New Zealand finalist is guaranteed at the 2014 New Zealand International Classic, with top seed Martin Knight to play against fourth seed Paul Coll in one semi-final evening.  It will be a second consecutive all-Kiwi match-up for Knight, after he took our Lance Beddoes in four sets in today's quarter-final.  Coll had it slightly easier against his French opponent Arthur Moineau, winning 3/0.

The other semi-final will be contested by Jan Koukal and Matt Karwalski.  Koukal beat hometown hero Kashif Shuja in five games to progress to the semi-finals, the Czech showing considerable character to recover from 0-2 down to progress.  Karwalski the tournament’s second seed was dominant throughout the match and clinched a three set win. Karwalski has been
untroubled so far and will go in to tomorrow’s semi-finals with the freshest set of legs out of the four players, having spent less than an hour on court. “I feel like I am hitting the ball well and moving well, now that I am 28 I try to conserve myself in the earlier rounds of tournaments if I have the opportunity to, it can definitely help later on in an event, “Karwalski said. Karwalski now meets Koukal in the second semi-final and the two have never played before. “I watched a bit of his (Koukal) game tonight and he is a very relaxed player, there is a rumour that he is carrying an injury but that will still not make him easy to beat, we all carry niggling injuries at this level.”

The semi-finals will be streamed live on Saturday from 4pm.  Tune in at http://new.livestream.com/NBLlivestreaming/events/3072393.

Quarter Final results

(1) Martin Knight beat (7) Lance Beddoes 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-3
Arthur Moineau (FRA) lost to (4) Paul Coll 10-12, 8-11, 7-11
(3) Jan Koukal (CZE) beat (Q) Kashif Shuja 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-4
(5) Matias Tuomi (FIN) lost to (2) Matthew Karwalski (AUS) 5-11, 10-12, 5-11