Mixed Results For Kiwi Players At New York Tournament Of Champions

A win and two losses for New Zealand's squash professionals at the at the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York today.

Paul Coll was defeated in his second round singles by world No.14 Ramy Ashour of Egypt 4-11 11-7 7-11 4-11 in 59 minutes and his opponent had some interesting words to say about the Kiwi from Greymouth.

"The match was pretty intense physically and I haven't played a match that long for a long time. Paul is very fit and he is like a crocodile on court. He's a lizard and he's very rubbery. Wherever you throw the ball, he is there, it's as if he had a limb in every corner of the court, it's incredible," commented Ashour on how Coll is regarded as one of the fittest players on the world circuit.

Earlier Auckland's Campbell Grayson lost his first round match to Egyptian Ali Farag in four games 6-11 11-7 4-11 4-11.

However, women's ninth seed Joelle King won her first round match against qualifier Heba El Torky (Egypt) 11-3 8-11 11-3 11-4 in 31 minutes to set up a match with eight-time world champion Nicol David from Malaysia. The match will be livestreamed on PSA TV at 11am Tuesday morning.

The last time King and David played it was a win for the Kiwi in the China Open in 2017.

The US$165,000 men's tournament and US$165,000 women's events run from 18-25 January and has many of its matches played in a glass court in Grand Central Station in New York.