No Surprises After First Round Doubledot Media PSA

All games went to seedings in a busy night at the Burnside Squash Club in Christchurch. 

First up was top seed Raphael Kendra from Germany who looked very classy and made very few errors to win relatively comfortably against Chris Binnie of Jamaica. From the start Kandra showed his skills taking control early with an attacking array of shots for a comfortable win. 

On the next court fellow left-hander Matthew Hopkin from Australia had a tighter struggle with the Malaysian qualifier Muhammad Hannan. just showing a bit more in the first two games. Hannan showed spirited resistance in the 3rd, building a nice lead before the Australian clawed his way back to 9/9 and sealed the match with an emphatic forehand cross-court nick. It will be a battle of the lefties in prospect tomorrow night with Kandra.

James Huang managed to beat Lewis Walters though some very long rallies were traded and the game seemed a little closer than the scoreline suggested. Huang dictated the pace throughout keeping the pressure on his opponent and dictating the rallies not allowing Walters any opportunity to gain the upper hand. 

The match between Harinder Singh Sandhu and Evan Williams was always going to be an intriguing game. This was a closely contested match right from the outset with Williams keen to prove he is getting back to his best form. Both players showed some great touches with Sandhu able to put in some amazing drop shots seemingly from anywhere on the court. Williams had a game ball in the second but could not capitalise and with Sandhu’s relentless pressure taking its toll he was eventually able to run out the winner in a very entertaining match with the higher ranked Sandhu just seeming to have a bit more composure. 

The match between Declan James (the runner-up from last weekend in Palmerston North) and Matias Tuomi was almost over before it started with Tuomi having to pull out during the first game sustaining an unfortunate ankle injury.

Local favourite Paul Coll looked comfortable in the first two games against Matthew Serediak, but the Canadian put up a strong fight in the 3rd and led 7/3, Coll had to tighten up and show patience as he clawed his way back to take the match 11/8 in the 3rd.

The all kiwi match up promised to be an entertaining for the crowd and so it proved. Beddoes did not allow Shuja to play his natural game in the first two sets and showed great control to take a 2/0 lead. In the third Shuja showed his experience by changing the pace of the game and displaying some excellent racket skills to take the third set. Beddoes was under pressure in the fourth but clawed his way back to level the scores and in a couple of crucial rallies was able to gain an advantage by attacking the ball early for some great winners. 

Rex Hedrick played very controlled squash to take the first 2 games against the local wild card Chris van der Salm.  Van der Salm came back strongly in the 3rd and built a nice early lead but was unable to convert this opportunity with the Australian clawing back and taking the match in three.

Games to be streamed are below with full Women's draw being found here and the Men's draw here

Women's Main Draw Round 1 Games - Friday

The following games will be streamed here

2pm - [1] Siyoli Waters (RSA) vs [L] Ruby Turnbull (NZL)

3pm - Hyo Ju Seo (KOR) vs [3] Sina Wall (GER)

4pm - Eleanor Epke (NZL) vs [8] Danielle Fourie (NZL)

5pm - [7] Madeleine Gill (USA) vs Hwayeong Eum (KOR)

The following games will be streamed here

2pm - [L] Ruby Beresford (NZL) vs [5] Jessica Turnbull (AUS)

3pm - [6] Jasmine Chan (AUS) vs [L] Nadia Hubbard (NZL)

4pm - [4] Lakeesha Rarere (AUS) vs [L] Ella Dromgool (NZL)

5pm - Yura Choi (KOR) vs [2] Megan Craig (NZL)

Men's Quarter Finals - Friday

The following games will be streamed here

6pm - [1] Raphael Kandra (GER) vs [7] Matthew Hopkin (AUS)

7pm - [6] James Huang (TPE) vs [3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)

8pm - [4] Declan James (ENG) vs [5] Paul Coll (NZL)

9pm - [8] Lance Beddoes (NZL) vs [2] Rex Hedrick (AUS)

Round 1 Mens Results

(1) Raphael Kendra (GER) beat Christopher Binnie (JAM) - 11/6, 11/3, 11/6 (31 min)

(7) Matthew Hopkin (AUS) beat (Q) Muhammad Hannan (MAS) - 11/7, 11/8, 11/9 (37 min)

(6) James Huang (TPE) beat Lewis Walters (JAM) - 11/4, 11/8, 11/4 (39 min)

(3) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) beat (Q) Evan Williams (NZL) - 11/9, 12/10, 11/8 (41 min)

(4) Declan James (ENG) beat (Q) Matias Tuomi (FIN) - 7/1 retired due to injury (7 min)

(5) Paul Coll (NZL) beat Matthew Serediak (CAN) - 11/5, 11/7, 11/8 (26 min)

(8) Lance Beddoes (NZL) beat (Q) Kashif Shuja (NZL) - 11/7, 11/4, 9/11, 11/6 (40 min)

(2) Rex Hedrick (AUS) beat (WC) Chris van der Salm (NZL) - 11/6, 11/3, 11/8 (36 min)