Top Players Enter Auckland Squash Open

The 2019 Auckland Open and PSA Satellite tournament is being held at Remuera Rackets Club this weekend with a number of top players from around New Zealand and a number of internationals from Japan, Korea, Australia and India at well. 

The tournament is the first of a number of selection events to decide the New Zealand Junior team for the World Junior Championships in Kuala Lumpur in July - August, meaning some very strong and large draws.  

Matches in the 32-strong Men's and 24-strong Women's Open divisions begin on Friday night, with a challenging schedule featuring two rounds of matches on both Saturday and Sunday.  Other divisions will have matches played earlier in the week to accommodate the 154 entries.  

New Zealand Commonwealth Games team member Zac Millar (world ranking 251) is the men’s top seed and will face a stern test with 11 other PSA-registered players in the draw including the winner of last weekend's SquashXL Open, Lwamba Chileshe, along with 2017 Auckland Open Ben Grindrod. Japan’s Ryo Kobayashi who won the first of the Satellites at SquashXL.

The Women's Open has Auckland's top 100 PSA ranked Abbie Palmer as No.1 seed who will be looking to reach the final and set up a potential rematch with Kaitlyn Watts with a chance to avenge her loss to Watts in the SquashXL Open final last weekend. 

Other PSA players such as Emma Millar and Anika Jackson, as well as defending champion Joanna Shanks and a number of junior players in the draw.   

Open division matches begin 5.30pm Friday and run throughout the weekend
Women's Open QF's - Saturday 5.10pm & 5.50pm, semis - Sunday 9.50am, final - Sunday 3.50pm,

Men's Open QF's - Saturday 6.30pm & 7.10pm, semis  - Sunday 10.30am, final - Sunday 4.30pm.