Good Start For Kiwis At Aussie Open

A good first day for Kiwi players at the Australian Open PSA squash tournament in Melbourne.

The tournament worth US$11,000 for each draw has seen three Kiwi men make the second round and two in the women’s draw.

Luke Jones (Palmerston North) won a marathon battle over Aussie Rohan Toole 10-12, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9 and now faces eighth seeded Thomas Calvert of Australia. Also winning was Scott Galloway (Wellington) at the expense of fellow Kiwi and Commonwealth Games doubles player Zac Millar 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6. Galloway will play fourth seed and world No.78 Mohd Syafiq Kamal (Malaysia) in his next match.

Another New Zealand Commonwealth Games team member, Evan Williams (Wellington), the seventh seed had a bye in the first round and has a second round clash with Malaysian Alvinn Keo.

In the women’s draw Manawatu’s Kaitlyn Watts fresh from the world juniors in India defeated Lynette Vai (Papua New Guinea) 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 to move into the second round where she now faces fifth seed and 59th ranked Sarah Cardwell from Australia.

Fellow Kiwi Abbie Palmer who was also recently confirmed for the New Zealand team for the world champs in China had a bye into the second round and will play Malaysian, Low Wee Wern.