King, Coll face tough draws to titles at NZ Squash Open

New Zealand’s top squash players Paul Coll and Joelle King will compete on home soil for the first time in PSA events in over five years when the New Zealand Open, PSA World Tour Silver tournament takes place November 8-13, Tauranga.

World No 2 Coll will headline the Robertson Lodges New Zealand Open and will kick off his title challenge against an American in round two, with the winner of Christopher Gordon and Timothy Brownell earning their spot against the home favourite.

From there, Greymouth-born Coll is seeded to play England’s Adrian Waller in the quarter-finals before a potential semi-final clash with 2018 British Open champion Miguel Rodriguez. Former world No 1 and second seed Mohamed ElShorbagy is predicted to be Coll’s opponent in the title decider.

“It’s going to be great to be able to play back home again and in a PSA Tour event, the New Zealand Open. There hasn’t been a tournament like this in the country since 1993 so that makes it even more special,” said Coll.

“it’s going to be a great tournament with some top players too from all around the world, I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

In the women’s Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open, World No 5 King also receives a bye through to round two where she will take on Kenzy Ayman of Egypt or Jessica Turnbull of Australia.

The 33-year-old from Cambridge is seeded to line up against American Sabrina Sobhy in the next round before a tricky semi-final fixture against No 3 seed Salma Hany.

King’s predicted final opponent will be England’s Sarah-Jane Perry. That match would be a repeat of the 2018 Commonwealth Games singles final, in which King triumphed to become New Zealand’s first gold medalist in the singles squash event.

The other Kiwi players in the draw are men’s World No 93 Lwamba Chileshe and women’s 95rh ranked Kaitlyn Watts, who take the wildcard positions for the event.

A member of the 2022 Commonwealth Games team, Chileshe will face Canadian David Baillargeon ranked 65 in the first round with a match against Rodriguez in the second round for the winner.

Also a Commonwealth Games team member, Watts from Manawatu has a clash against experienced Scotswoman, Lisa Aitken ranked 33 in her first round match.

A US$150,000 prize fund will be on offer throughout the event which has players from 20 nations represented. The tournament will be preceded by the Nations Cup, which is the first event to be held in the new SquashFORWARD series created in order to trial changes to the traditional competition and scoring formats used at official tournaments, including those on the PSA Tour.

An announcement on the entered teams and schedule for the Nations Cup will be made in October.

2022 Robertson Lodges New Zealand Open: Men’s Draw

[1] Paul Coll (NZL) [bye]

Christopher Gordon (USA) v [9/16] Timothy Brownell (USA)

[9/16] Greg Lobban (SCO) v Charlie Lee (ENG)

[6] Adrian Waller (ENG) [bye]

[8] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) [bye]

Syed Azlan Amjad (QAT) v [9/16] Balazs Farkas (HUN)

[9/16] David Baillargeon (CAN) v [WC] Lwamba Chileshe (NZL)

[4] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) [bye]

[3] Victor Crouin (FRA) [bye]

Spencer Lovejoy (USA) v [9/16] Henry Leung (HKG)

[9/16] Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) v Andrew Douglas (USA)

[7] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) [bye]

[5] Saurav Ghosal (IND) [bye]

Martin Svec (CZE) v [9/16] Leandro Romiglio (ARG)

[9/16] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v Addeen Idrakie (MAS)

[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) [bye]

2022 Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open

[1] Joelle King (NZL) [bye]

Jessica Turnbull (AUS) v [9/16] Kenzy Ayman (EGY)

[9/16] Ka Yi Lee (HKG) v Salma Eltayeb (EGY)
[8] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) [bye]

[5] Tinne Gilis (BEL) [bye]

Sarah Cardwell (AUS) v [9/16] Olivia Clyne (USA)

[9/16] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v Nadia Pfister (SUI)

[3] Salma Hany (EGY) [bye]

[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) [bye]

Alicia Mead (ENG) v [9/16] Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)

[9/16] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Malak Khafagy (EGY)

[7] Hollie Naughton (CAN) [bye]

[6] Tesni Evans (WAL) [bye]

[WC] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) v [9/16] Lisa Aitken (SCO)

[9/16] Tomato Ho (HKG) v Saskia Beinhard (GER)

[2] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) [bye]