Mixed Results For Kiwi Seeds At Barfoot and Thompson Auckland Open

After a remarkable comeback in his semifinal Wellington squash player Evan Williams couldn’t continue his performance into the final of the Barfoot and Thompson Auckland Squash Open.

As the second seed of the PSA Challenger tournament New Zealand’s third ranked men’s player, Williams wasn’t allowed by his Hong Kong opponent, Henry Leung the tournament top seed to get into the match.

Williams, 30 had a scored a comeback from two sets and 1-7 down to win his semfiinal over Tang Ming Hong (Hong Kong) but was beaten in straight games by Leung 11-2, 11-8, 1-4 for the PSA Challenger title at the North Shore Club.

For Leung ranked 87th in the world  it was his fifth Challenger career title and a reversal from the previous time they played in Invercargill last year where Williams currently ranked 89th  had won his sixth title beating Leung in the final.

On this occasion Leung was controlled and efficient not giving Williams any free points and making him work hard in every rally in front of large crowd.

The women’s final became a reverse of the previous week’s tournament where second seed Emma Millar from the Waikato had beaten Auckland’s Lana Harrison in the Eden Epsom final. This time it was hard-hitting Harrison who came away the winner in the PSA Satellite tournament at the North Shore Club 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6.

Harrison retrieved a large number of balls to put pressure on Millar at vital times to seal the win with a sequence of results featuring a semifinal finish, followed by runners-up result and then a win at the Auckland Open. Millar in her two tournaments has had a win and a finals finish.

The next tournament of the five event series is in Whakatanae this week followed by Royal Oak the next week.