Squash Action Hits Courts For Auckland Open
The Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Squash Open gets underway, tomorrow (Thursday 22 May) at the North Shore Squash Club with some intriguing matches in the opening rounds.
The men's PSA Challenger has first and second round matches on Friday followed by quarters and semis on Saturday and final Sunday while the women's Satellite runs Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
The men's draw involves players such as Northland left-hander Freddie Jameson who was a finalist at the New Zealand Junior Open this year but is up against another teen in Auckland's Vihan Chathury who will be playing for New Zealand at World Junior Championships in Egypt in July.
Gisborne-raised Willz Donnelly, Bay of Plenty's Glenn Templeton as well as Henderson's Apa Fatialofa and North Shore's Sion Wiggan against Korean seed Youngjo Ko are all on court in the first round.
If matches go to plan top seeded 18-year-old Ollie Dunbar will play seventh seed Gianluca Bushell-O'Connor from Australia in the quarters on Saturday,
Dunbar ranked 140 in the world would then have a likely semifinal against either fourth seed Camern Darton (Australia) or fifth seed Jooyung Na (Korea) on Saturday afternoon.
In the bottom half of the draw Shamil Wakeel from Sri Lanka who is seeded second will face the winner of the clash between Malaysian teenager Harith Daniel and Taupo's Bryce McMullen in the second round
The women's Satellite draw has Jena Gregory originally from the Hawkes Bay, as top seed and set to face Waikato's Sophie Hodges, the fourth seed in the semifinals if the draw works out.
Second seed, Bay of Plenty's Winona Jo-Joyce could come up against third seed Emma Merson (Bay of Plenty) or four-time former champion Lana Harrison for a place in the final.
The tournament runs Thursday 22 May – Sunday 25 May at the North Shore Squash Club with 170 entries across all divisions.
All draws will be on the www.squashauckland.org.nz website.
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