Top Seeds safely through to day two of championships

The top seeds in all divisions at the Australian Junior Squash Championships in Perth sailed through to day two action, although not without having to dig deep into their skill set in some instances.

Almost 200 competitors from six states and territories are going toe-to-toe at Squashworld in Mirrabooka and the on-court action looks, along with Perth's weather, set to heat up en route to the individual finals on Thursday.

In the boys under 19 division, local hope and top seed Oscar Curtis cruised through 11-2 11-2 11-4 against Queensland's Josh Porter.

In the same bracket, 5/8 seed Harvey Allan (Vic) crashed out to New South Wales Kenneth Lamb in a five-set, 59-minute thriller - the day's longest match.

Left-hander Kijan Sultana (Qld) was another impressive winner in the u19 division, with a 41-minute, 11-6 13-15 11-8 11-2 triumph over James Nicholas, the 5/8 seed setting up a clash on Wednesday with Dylan Classen (WA).

"It got close at the end, but I got my game back. I was just trying to get it deep; he (Nicholas) was pretty good on the volley area so I tried to avoid his forehand volleys," said Sultana.

Curtis's counterpart in the under 19 girls, Queensland's Madison Lyon, was also untroubled, dismissing WA's Caitlin Pratt in straight sets - even though she was not entirely satisfied with her on-court performance.

"Nothing really worked today," she said. "But there's always tomorrow to change that."

In the U17 girls, top seed Amelie Guziak was in cruise control in her clash with Tasmania's Asmita Gupta, winning 11-2 11-2 11-2, while at the other end of the draw second seeded Emmy Lamb (NSW) was equally untroubled brushing aside WA's Josie Jones 11-2 11-1 11-3.

The U17 boys also played pretty much to script, top seeded Thomas Scott (NSW) and James Slade (NSW), second seed, easily reaching the next rounds. However, Victorian Benjamin Murray defeated two higher seeds and looked to be one to watch out for in the draw.

However, the U15 boys division proved a minefield for many higher seeded players, even if the top two seeds, Kasper Cheung (NSW) and Connor Haberecht (Vic), rolled through to day two.

First up WA's Aiden Finlay-Mulligan took out Queenslander John Morris in round one and he then followed it up with a hard-fought straight sets win over 3/4 seed Manaia Kara-Brown (Vic).

"Cross-court was working for me today," says Aiden, who hails from Esperance - some 700km from Perth - where he has to play against adult competition to get the best level of squash.

The other 3/4 seed in the division, ACT's Denver Field, also fell at the first hurdle, with New South Wales' Ethan Middleton then dishing out a straight sets win over Tobias Baker (Qld) to reach the third round.

All but one seeded player in the U15 girls made it through to Wednesday's clashes, Lilly Wilson (QLD) springing the upset against 5/8 opponent Peppa Casey (SA).

In the U13 boys, newcomer Kaveen Kohombange provided the only upset, taking out 5/8 seeded Alexander Marsh (WA), with top seeds Joel Raj (QLD) and Henry Kross (NSW) easily progressing.

Tina Ma (Vic) and Claudi Burger (QLD) the first and second seeds respectively, stayed on course for a meeting in the U13 girls final, although 3/4 seed Olivia Van Zon (SA) fell to Queensland’s Jasmin Dumbleton.

In the youngest divisions, U11 girls top seed Riyo Kawabata (QLD) eased through to the next match, where she will face her "best friend' fellow Queenslander Abby Roswell.

Another Queenslander, Jet Lacquiere, heads the U11 boys field, and he lived up to his name by flying through his first round clash against Victoria's Jenson Ooi.

The championships continue Wednesday from 9am.

For a full list of results, go to https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/2022-Australian-Junior-Championships-1