Aussies advance to mixed doubles round of 16

Donna Lobban/Cameron Pilley and Zac Alexander/Rachael Grinham opened up their mixed doubles campaign on a strong note, recording two wins on the first day of the mixed doubles competition.

Team Australia flagbearer Rachael Grinham and Zac Alexander matched up against Jade Pitcairn and Jake Kelly of Cayman Islands, making an early mark on the competition.

The Aussie duo led from start to finish, closing out the match 2-0 (11-1, 11-4).

“The score line didn’t suggest how tight the match really was. There were a lot of long rallies and we got on the right end of them which was nice,” Alexander said.

“It’s been over two weeks of practicing doubles so it was nice to finally get going. One match down and a few more to go hopefully,” he said.

“They were a really solid team. We had a really solid performance, and managed to run away with it after the first few rallies,” Grinham added.

Both Alexander and Grinham are lining up in the mixed, and men’s and women’s doubles respectively, but think the action in both competitions will give them an upper edge.

“Playing both mixed and women’s doubles means you get more court time, so you’re almost a little sharper I think,” Grinham said.

“The more court time, the more matches in my opinion actually helps. It’s more of an advantage than a disadvantage playing in the two events,” she said.

In the second Aussie game of the day, Gold Coast 2018 gold medalists and cousins Donna Lobban and Cameron Pilley defeated Papua New Guinea 2-0 (6-11, 4-11).

“It’s nice to get our first win under the belt - we hadn’t played them before or seen them play so we didn’t really know what to expect but we just went out there trying to play our own game,” Lobban said.

“They played some nice shots which took us by surprise a little bit a few times,” she said.

Both Australian mixed doubles pairings will return to the court at the University of Birmingham Squash Centre on Thursday, with the men’s and women’s doubles competitions also set to get underway.

For the full schedule and results from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, click here.

Photo credit: PSA