Jones Upsets Green to Progress to Semi-Finals of Waikato PSA 

Luke Jones has caused the upset of the quarter finals at the Waikato PSA event defeating Englishman Joe Green in three to progress to the semi-finals.

The first game of the Quarter finals was between Wild Card Zac Millar of Waikato and top seed Evan Williams of Wellington. Both were feeling confident after their wins the previous day and were looking set to continue this on. Both players had some great tight shots and some moments of deception sending their player in the opposite direction. Millar however had the higher overall error rate and left some loose balls for Williams to attack leading Williams to claim the first game. The second game followed a very similar pattern to the first and Millar struggled to pick up Williams strong shots eventually losing the second. Williams stepped forward in the third game and looked convincing throughout the game attacking the ball and forcing Millar into the errors. Williams claiming the match in three.

Kiwi player Luke Jones was looking to make a good impression in this PSA tournament against the English player Joe Green. There were some great long rallies from both players on court showing some strong length and great movement forward and back. Jones managed to move Green just out of his comfort zone in the first and even with Green’s extreme pickups Jones deception worked in his favour and he claimed the first game. The second game saw some unforced errors from both players with Green playing some loose shots early on leaving Jones to put them away. Jones had some errors creep into his game whilst Green managed to get some good length but Jones managed to keep working the ball and drew the errors out of Green to claim the second game. The third game saw tough rallies from both players and Jones had a number of errors at point with Green forcing Jones around the court. Jones however pulled out some amazing short shots along with some great length which claimed some crucial points at the end of the game and eventually were the key to his success and sent him to his first PSA semi-final.

Adam Murrills of England had to take on the tough American Dylan Cunningham in his quarter final. The first game saw some high intensity from both players and some great structured rallies with tight shots. Cunningham however managed to have some tight shots which forced the errors from Murrills and Cunningham closed the first game. The second game saw both players carry on in a similar fashion to the first game however Murrills was able to force the errors this time from Cunningham and eventually Murrills levelled the game score. In the third game more unforced errors crept into Cunninghams game whilst Murrills controlled the tee and moved Cunningham around the court. Cunninghams amazing pickups were not enough to get him out of trouble in the third game and Murrills took the lead in the match. The fourth game was much similar to that of the first three with some great shots and both players being unable to pick up each other’s shots at points, but Cunningham couldn’t bring the error rate down and Murrills pushed the game and eventually took the win in four.

Ben Grindrod of Tauranga looked methodical in his win over Korea’s Seongyeon Yoo. There was some great length and good structure from both players in the first game but it was Yoo’s error rate which let him down in conjunction with Grindrod’s strong control of the centre of the court. Grindrod continued to step forward in the second game and he continued to move Yoo around the court forcing the errors from Yoo and claiming the second game. The third game saw Grindrod take an early lead but Yoo stepped up and was starting to work Grindrod around the court more now. Grindrod however managed to clinch the tight third with his consistent straight length and some good shots at time.

Semi final games start at 6pm today at the Hamilton Squash and Tennis Club.

Full results can be found below.

Make sure you check out the Qualifying Round and Round 1 results as well.

Quarter Finals

[1] Evan Williams (NZL) bt [WC] Zac Millar (NZL) – 11/6, 11/8, 11/4

[8] Luke Jones (NZL) bt [4] Joe Green (ENG) – 11/8, 11/9, 11/8

[3] Ben Grindrod (NZL) bt Seongyeon Yoo (KOR) – 11/5, 11/8, 12/10

[2] Adam Murrills (ENG) bt [5] Dylan Cunningham (USA)– 11/13, 11/5, 11/6, 11/6