Coll & King Start Squash Nationals With Wins

There were no upsets in the early round s of the 2017 New Zealand Senior Squash Nationals in Havelock North with top seeds Paul Coll and Joelle King winning their respective men’s and women’s initial matches.

Coll defeated Whangarei’s Max Timple 11-2 11-2 11-7 in his first round match and the world No.12 is the favourite to win his third consecutive national senior title.

After great success on the world tour over the past 12 months the 25-year-old from Greymouth is home for a rare visit and to try and collect another title. Coll’s main rival in the tournament is expected to be second seed Campbell Grayson who has a current world ranking of 39 and also scored an easy first round win in his opening match.

Auckland fourth seed Lance Beddoes is the potential semifinal opponent for Coll if the draw goes to plan.

In the women’s draw King is looking for her sixth national title with Amanda Landers-Murphy from Rotorua the second seed and Megan Craig (Blenheim) the third seed.

King started her campaign well enough with a straightforward win over Waikato player Jaimee Hunt and will now face American-based Aucklander Hayley Hughes in her next match with Palmerston North teenager Kaitlyn Watts the seeded opponent for King in the potential semifinals

The tournament runs Sunday 2 July at the Havelock North Squash Club.

Livestreaming of this event begins at 9am Saturday and the link can be found here (https://livestream.com/NZSportTV/events/7536685)

Results In Progress; 2017 New Zealand Senior Squash Nationals in Havelock North;

Women’s singles first round:

Joelle King (Waikato) bt Jaimee Hunt (Waikato) 11-1 11-3 11-1, Hayley Hughes (Auckland) bt Winona-Jo Joyce (Hawkes Bay) 12-10 11-1 11-4, Kaitlyn Watts (Palmerston North) bt Jena Gregory (Hawkes Bay) 11-4 11-3 1-4,

Abbie Palmer (Whangarei)  bt Jackie Tapp (Taihape) 11-2 11-2 11-3, Megan Criag (Blenheim) bt Rosemary Mair (Hawkes Bay) 11-2 11-4 11-3.

Men’s singles first round:

Campbell Grayson (Auckland) bt Sean Dykes (Hamilton) 11-5 11-4 11-5, Kashif Shuja (Palmerston North) bt Phill Buscke Somervell (Hamilton) 8-11 11-7 11-8 11-9, Paul Coll (Greymouth) bt Max Trimble (Whangarei) 11-2 11-2 11-7