2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN | Day 1 Review

The 2020 Australian Open got underway today at the Bega Squash Centre in Bega, New South Wales, Australia. The event that was due to be held in August 2020 was postponed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a PSA Challenger Tour 10 event giving our PSA players a fantastic opportunity to get back on court, into tournaments and earning points to better their rankings.

Highlights

1 – Remashree Muniandy took on the winner of the recent Sandgate PSA Women’s event [8] Tamika Hunt. Muniandy put the pace on early to have game ball in the first but Hunt ended up proving too strong for her opponent, finishing it straight games 12-10, 11-4, 11-6 (23 mins). Hunt will go on to play [2] Sarah Cardwell for the third time in as many tournaments. The head-to-head record this year is 1-1.

2 – [8] Solayman Nowrozi put Robert Palmer through his paces when the pair met to make it through to the next round. The rallies were long and brutal but it was Nowrozi who came out on top 11-3 11-5 11-4 (29mins). Nowrozi will go onto play [2] Nicholas Calvert in the quarter finals.

3 – A first round upset occurred when Peter Vaughan took on fellow Victorian [6] Benjamin Ratcliffe. Vaughan got off to a fine start but his younger opponent worked hard to pull it back. In the end Vaughan finished on top in the longest match of the night 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 (31 mins). Vaughan will go on to play [3] Thomas Calvert.

4 – Hannelize Human defeated [7] Kate Winters in a hard fought 3 games. Winters started the match strong, but it was Human who played the big points well to edge the first game. The more experienced Human continued the momentum through the next two games to take the match 11-9 11-5 11-6 (21 mins).

Quarter Finals will be underway from 6:30 pm (AEDT) tomorrow.

Full draws and results can be found on SportyHQ here: https://squashaustralia.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Volkswagen-Australian-Open-2020 

If you can’t make it to the courts to see the action in person you can still watch the matches on the livestream on Squash Australia Facebook page or YouTube channel at www.squashaustralia.tv 

Squash Australia would like to acknowledge and thank the following sponsors for their support of this event: Volkswagen, Tarra Motors, Bega Squash Club, BLK, Dunlop, Ashawa

FULL RESULTS 

[1] Joseph White (AUS) v Mark Canavan (AUS) 11-0, 11-6, 11-1 (15m) 

[6] Benjamin Ratcliffe (AUS) v Peter Vaughan (AUS) 4-11, 8-11, 10-12 (31m) 

[7] Kate Winters (AUS) v Hannelize Human (RSA) 9-11, 5-11, 6-11 (21m) 

[4] Rhys Dowling (AUS) v Mansoor Zaman (AUS) 11-6, 11-2, 11-7 (22m) 

[8] Solayman Nowrozi (AUS) v Robert Palmer (AUS) 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (29m) 

Corey Bedingfield (AUS) v [7] Javed Ali (AUS) 8-11, 6-11, 7-11 (24m) 

Tate Zak Norris (RSA) v [3] Thomas Calvert (AUS) 4-11, 8-11, 6-11 (27m) 

[8] Tamika Hunt (AUS) v Remashree Muniandy (AUS) 12-10, 11-4, 11-6 (23m) 

Declan Smith (AUS) v [5] Rohan Toole (AUS) 4-11, 4-11, 3-11 (16m) 

Aidan Parkes (AUS) v [2] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) 3-11, 4-11, 3-11 (22m)