Kiwis Going Strong After Day 1 of Australian Open

A Strong contingent of Kiwi players have moved into the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne after some exceptional games on court.

In the Women's Draw Amanda Landers-Murphy was one of the first kiwis on court taking on Australian Jasmine Chan. 10th seed Landers-Murphy had no issue dispatching of Chan in 3 straightforward sets lasting only 17mins. Megan Craig decided she would go slightly better in her game taking down Australian Selena Shaikh in 15mins and 3 sets. Danielle Fourie was the only casualty in the Women's draw where she had a hard fought battle against 8th seed Donna Urquhart of Australia where she pushed the Australian but she was not able to get across the line to secure a game. Joelle King had a Bye in the Women's Draw today. 

Round 2 of the Women's Draw sees 2nd seed Joelle King take on 13th seed Australian Christine Nunn in her first match of the tournament. Amanda Landers-Murphy will face 5th seed Line Hansen from Denmark whilst Megan Craig has 6th seed Joshana Chinappa of India. 

In the Men's Draw Lance Beddoes put up a strong fight against 3rd seed Australian Ryan Cuskelly with some strong performances but he wasn't able to pull off the upset of the tournament going down in 3. Chris Van Der Salm also had a tough loss but showed some great moments on court where he managed to get a game off 2nd seed Malaysian Nafiizwan Adnan. Adnan however proved too strong for Van Der Salm with the game taking 50mins and going to 4. Kashif Shuja was the final casualty of the day with an epic five setter against Steve Finitsis of Australia. These two players went game for game with it looking like it could go either way but after 1hr and 1 min Finitsis managed to close out the match. 

Paul Coll and Evan Williams are still going strong in the Men's Draw. Coll dropped his first game against Joshua Masters of England, but he came back and managed to finish the match in 4. Evan Williams game was a slightly different affair. Williams played Robert Downer of England and the two players traded blow for blow securing game after game, however Williams came out in the fifth and showed he wanted to make that top 16 and secured the win in an epic match.

Paul Coll will now face 7th seed Greg Lobban of Scotland whilst Evan Williams will face 8th seed Rex Hedrick of Australia.

Good luck to the Kiwis!

Main Draw - Round 1

Evan Williams bt Robert Downer (ENG) - 11-2 9-11 11-6 9-11 11-8 - 1hr 3mins

Kashif Shuja lost Steven Finitsis (AUS) - 6-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8, 6-11 - 1hr 1min

Lance Beddoes lost (3) Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) - 6-11, 10-12, 5-11

Paul Coll bt Joshua Masters (ENG) - 11-13, 11-4, 12-10, 11-6 - 45mins

Chris van der Salm lost (2) Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) - 7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 8-11 - 50mins

(12) Megan Craig bt Selena Shaikh (AUS) - 11-2 11-5 11-0 - 15mins

(10) Amanda Landers-Murphy bt Jasmine Chan (Aus) - 11-3 11-3 11-4 - 17mins

Danielle Fourie lost (8) Donna Urquhart (Aus) - 6-11, 10-12, 4-11 - 21mins

(2) Joelle King vs BYE

Main Draw - Round 2

(2) Joelle King vs (13) Christine Nunn (Aus)

(10) Amanda Landers-Murphy vs (5) Line Hansen (Denmark)

(12) Megan Craig vs (6) Joshana Chinappa (India)

Evan Williams vs (8) Rex Hedrick (Australia)

Paul Coll vs (7) Greg Lobbam (Scotland)