Grinham and Hedrick take out Roberts & Morrow North Coast Open

Rachael Grinham and Rex Hedrick have won the Roberts & Morrow North Coast Open PSA Challenger Tour event in Coffs Harbour after victories in the men’s and women’s open respectively.

It was the first event in 10 months to be held at Coffs Harbour after tournaments were postponed due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions. The four-day event, which was originally scheduled to take place in August 2021, drew a large crowd of supporters and a near all-time record number of entries across the weekend.

In the men’s draw, an unseeded Hedrick showed strong form throughout the event at Coffs Harbour Squash Centre, defeating top seed Rhys Dowling in the semi-final to set up a final with Josh Larkin, who came off an intense 5-set win against no.2 seed Joe White.

Hedrick’s performance in the final saw him reel off five straight points after being 6-4 up to take the opening game 11-4, with the Victorian-based player maintaining his focus to take the second game.

It wasn’t until the third game that the pressure started to rise as Larkin upped the intensity, but with scores locked at 2-2, Hedrick won the next seven points to take a commanding 9-2 lead before wrapping up a great third set 11-5 to claim his first North Coast Open win 11-4, 11-7, 11-5.

His victory comes 11 years after he was the runner-up at the same event.

“It seemed to get better and better on the court every day,” Hedrick said after the match. “I was lucky to come up against a player who had a five-set battle in the heat yesterday. It's been a great tournament in Coffs.”

Over in the women’s draw, it was a similar story as the top seeds also bowed out of the competition.

The top seed Sarah Cardwell was ousted by Alex Haydon to secure a spot in the final in straight games.

The second semi-final was between Grinham and no.2 seed Jessica Turnbull who went toe-to-toe in the first two games. The third game saw Grinham control the pace and move into the lead before closing it out to advance to the finals at her first appearance in Coffs Harbour.

Grinham had the better of the exchanges in the opening game of the final, finishing rallies with pinpoint volley drops before Haydon settled her nerves to take the second game. It was anyone's match at that point with the results seesawing between the two but ultimately it was Grinham who took control in the fifth game to win the Women’s Open title 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-6.

“I was really happy with the way I played this week,” Grinham said.

“It was always going to be a tough road to get through to the end as all my matches right from the quarters were likely to be equally tough if I got through them.”

The 2022 Roberts and Morrow North Coast Open will be held in August later this year.