Three Kiwis in Invercargill quarters

Martin Knight, Paul Coll and Lance Beddoes are through to the quarter-finals of the NZ Southern Open PSA event, and were very nearly joined by veteran Kashif Shuja. 

The NZ Southern Open has begun with some great squash keeping fans on the edge of their seats. First on at 5.30pm were Mohd Nafizwan Adnan (MAS) vs Sanjay Singh (MAS), with Adnan proving far too strong, winning 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 in 38 minutes. Abdullah Mohd Al Tamimi (Qatar) had a slightly more difficult progression through to the second round, beating Adam Murrills (ENG) 11-4, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10 in 39 minutes.

More tight matches followed with New Zealand’s Paul Coll seeming to be having an easy run against Matias Tuomi (FIN) before Tuomi fought back to take the third set. Coll re-gathered well during the break however and showed some classy shots to take the 35 minute match 11-4, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5.

Kashif Shuja again proved a crowd favourite with some massive rallies during his match against Rex Hedrick (AUS).  The 5 set match went for a staggering 94 minutes and had plenty of both excitement and controversy. Hedrick eventually took out the match 12-10 in the fifth.

James Huang (TAI) and Aqeel Rehman (Austria) pleased the crowd with their extreme speed and agility on the court. Huang overcame the higher ranked Rehman in just 35 minutes 11-5, 11-8, 11-8.

The sixth match of the night saw qualifier Ben Grindrod (NZL) try to maintain his winning streak against Matthew Karwalski (AUS). Karwalski showed his experience and took just 30 minutes to dispatch Grindrod 11-9, 11-8,   11-5, despite Grindrod’s best efforts.

Wildcard Lance Beddoes dominated the first set against Jan Koukal (Czech) and came back from gameball 6 down in the second to create a tie-break that seesawed back and forth before Koukal grabbed it at 18-16. Beddoes took the third set 11-8, at which point Koukal succumbed to an injury and had to forfeit the rest of the match, opening the door for Beddoes to progress through to the second round.

Second seed Martin Knight (NZL) proved too strong for Joe Chapman (British Virgin Islands), although Chapman certainly made Knight work hard for the 3 set win, pushing him to a tie break in the third set which Knight took 12-10.

Check out first round matches 'on demand' here.

NZ Southern Open First Round Full Results:

Mohd Nafizwan Adnan (MAS) beat Sanjay Singh (MAS) 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 (38 mins)

Abdullah Mohd Al Tamimi (Qatar) beat Adam Murrills (ENG) 11-4, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10 (39 mins)

Paul Coll (NZL) beat Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-4, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5 (35 mins)

James Huang (TAI) beat Aqeel Rehman (Austria) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8

Rex Hedrick (AUS) beat Kashif Shuja (NZL) 11-4, 6-11, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11 (94mins)

Matthew Karwalski (AUS) beat Ben Grinrod (NZL) 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 (30 mins)

Lance Beddoes (NZL) beat Jan Koukal(Czech) 11-5, 16-18, 11-8 Koukal defaulted with injury

Martin Knight (NZL) beat Joe Chapman (BVI) 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 (39 mins)

Game times for the second round of the ILT & Community Trust NZ Southern PSA Open tomorrow night (tune in here for streaming):

5.30pm  (1) Mohd Nafizwan vs (6) Abdullah Mohd Al Tamimi

6.30pm  (7) Paul Coll vs (4) Rex Hedrick

7.30pm  (3) Matthew Karwalski vs James Huang

8.30pm  (WC) Lance Beddoes vs (2) Martin Knight