Kiwis Out Of Contention in Palmy
6 Jun 2015
All the kiwis who had gone through to the Semi-Finals are now out of contention at the NZ International Classic in Palmerston North.
The top seeded women will meet in the final tomorrow and it will be a battle between friends after Hong Kong’s Joey Chan and Japan’s Misaki Kobayashi won today’s semi-finals. The games went to seed as expected. Joey, top seed, and Misaki, second seed are roommates in Palmerston North for the tournament at SquashGym, and Joey says things will be different from when they played each other last year in the Asian Team Champs. “On tour everything is our own responsibility, it’s different from a team environment. I’m aiming to play well and cut down unforced errors." Joey is currently world number 27, and Misaki world number 36.
New Zealander Amanda Landers-Murphy was up first and she managed to take two sets in a row off Misaki and looked ready to take the win. Misaki however had a different plan and managed to fight her way back to level the playing field. Landers-Murphy couldn't manage to find her stride again and went down in a tough five setter with this being the only match lasting five sets in the women’s draw of the tournament.
Joey says of today’s game against New Zealander Megan Craig, “Megan has improved a lot on speed, she was consistently fast and good on volleys. I was ok at anticipating her moves in the first two sets but then I had to slow down the game to make myself more comfortable.” Joey last played Megan in Macau two years ago where she won 3-0. Craig was just not able to match the higher seed today.
It was not a quick round of semi-finals today in the men’s section of the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers New Zealand International Squash Classic, with both games this afternoon lasting five sets and well over an hour each and hopes of a different result for the kiwis. Paul Coll was first onto the court against number one seed and WR #35 Nafiizwan Adnan of Malaysia. Coll manged to claim the first game convincingly against the Malaysian but Nafiizwan was not going to go down without a fight. Coll seemed to lose concentration in the second but came out firing in the third but Nafiizwan was just too strong. Coll then managed to level the score in the fourth with some brilliant dives on the court. However it was not to be Coll's day and he went down in a tense fifth game.
After losing Coll all hopes landed on Campbell Graysons shoulders for there to be a kiwi into the final. Grayson had to take out Declan James of Englad. James had previously taken out third seed Raphael Kandra of Germany so it was clear he was not going to be an easy win. New Zealander Campbell Grayson fought hard and took the early lead getting the first two games. Declan then managed to claim the third and again the fourth with Grayson having match ball in the fourth. The fifth saw everything left on court but the very physical game lasting 109 minutes plus 26 injury minutes was not to go Graysons way.
The game was halted twice after both players received blood injuries - Campbell in the third set with a blood nose and Declan in the fifth set after receiving a minor injury across the bridge of the nose in the fifth set after coming into contact with his opponent’s racquet.
Declan seems to be getting better as the tournament goes on and although he wasn’t as relaxed in the first set today he managed to gain a small lead consistently later on which helped him to take it out in the end. “I was a bit tense at the start and wasn’t thinking about my game plan,” he says. “Once I started thinking about it I was able to take control a bit more.” He will be focusing on recovering tonight to make sure his body is ready for tomorrow’s action. “If I prepare well tonight hopefully I can make it a good match.” Opponent Nafiizwan Adnan will be in the same position after a five setter today. The two men played each other just over a year ago in the British open, where Nafiizwan won 3-0.
Sundays games will be streamed live here and all previous games can be watched here
Games to be streamed on Sunday include
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1:30pm - Women's Final - [1] Joey Chan (HKG) vs [2] Misaki Kobayashi (JPN)
- 2:30pm - [1] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) vs [7] Declan James (ENG)
Full Results are below
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