Locals open AJC campaign on top

The chance to compete for a national title on your home court is something which doesn’t come around very often but two of Australia’s best young players are in with a chance of doing just that after impressive performances on the opening day of the 2024 Australian Junior Championships in Sydney.

Thomas Scott and Kasper Cheung recently pulled on the green and gold to represent Australia at the World Junior Championships in Houston but are back home at Thornleigh Squash and Fitness Centre aiming to finish on top this week.

Scott, the 2024 Australian Junior Open U19 Champion, was in the final match of the day on Court 2 after receiving a bye through the opening round.

He came up against South Australia’s Aryan Madan who was high on confidence after a morning victory in which he dropped just 17 points.

Madan took it to Scott in the opening game, saving a game point before eventually going down 9-11. The second was just as tight with the South Australian holding a 7-5 lead and showing all his skill to take it to one of the title favourites.

From that point Scott went to another level, winning 16 of the next 17 points and in the space of seven minutes to local was safely into the quarter-finals where all eight seeds are still in with a shot at the Boys U19 title.

“Not dropping games is good even when it’s not going the right way; finding some way to get through,” said Scott after the hard-fought encounter. "I lost focus a bit but brought it back in the third.

“I’ve been training pretty hard the past few weeks, past few months so I’m looking to do well.

“We’ve got heaps of people down to watch and everyone at Thornleigh supports really well. It’s my last AJC so hopefully I can get it at home.”

Earlier in the day, U17 top seed Cheung met Victoria’s Juan Guzman Castelblanco in their second round matchup.

The Sydneysider won the U15 title last year and looked in ominous form in his opening match on a court he estimates he’s played over 200 matches on. After dropping the opening point of the contest, Cheung reeled off 11 straight to claim the first game but found himself trailing midway through the second before finding his groove again.

“There’s always first round nerves to it’s good to find your rhythm and I’m glad I did that today to get it done in three,” he said. “I relaxed too much in that second [game] but it was good to find my own game again, find the length that was more comfortable for me.”

Cheung revealed after his match that the opportunity to potentially lift the trophy at home is his number one aim this week and he thinks he’s well-poised after his WJC experience earlier this year.

“I’ve won the last two national titles on foreign ground but this year [it’s] good to be at my home courts so it would be really special to win it again,” he said. “Houston was a real eye-opener, it’s really motivated me to train extra hard. I’m feeling fresh, no injuries so feeling good for the week.”

The 2024 AJC continues on Sunday from 9am AEST with two courts streaming live on SquashAUS.tv .

Click here for draws, results and schedules across all 10 divisions.