WSA Hong Kong: Major upsets as seeds fall

Major Upsets As Seeds Fall At First Hurdle

From MATT WAGG
The second day of Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open round one matches unearthed more surprise results at the Hong Kong Squash Centre.

The biggest surprise for local supporters came as home favourite and No.4 seed Annie Au lost out in a five-game scrap with Indian qualifier Joshana Chinappa.  The Hong Kong international dropped the first game, before an ensuing game of cat and mouse led to the 23-year-old adding to the World Series misery she suffered when losing in round one of the U.S Open earlier in the year.

An unexpected inclusion to the second round, Chinappa will face seasoned WSA stalwart Rachael Grinham, who progressed with a comfortable straight-games win over Latasha Khan of the USA.

Another shock result saw number two seed Laura Massaro succumb to a heavy defeat against former world No.4 Omneya Abdel Kawy.  The Englishwoman had been set to capitalise on the absence of Raneem El Weleily from the World Series event, but her Egyptian compatriot Kawy dismissed Massaro’s challenge in three games, to allow El Weleily some breathing space ranked as No.2 in the world.

Kawy will progress to play New Zealander Joelle King, in a rematch of last month’s Macau Open final.  King took just 21-minutes to dispatch French qualifier Coline Aumard in three games.

A third upset of the day came as Donna Urquhart suffered her fifth consecutive first round exit, this time at the hand of unseeded Dane, Line Hansen.  In remarkably the pair’s third meeting in round one of this event, Hansen took a comfortable two game lead against the Australian, who seemed unable to mount any serious challenge for points.  The No.15 seed came close to constructing a comeback in the third game, but was unable to swing the tiebreak in her favour.

Hansen will face sixth seed Alison Waters in round two, after the world No.4 dismissed the challenge of her compatriot Emma Beddoes in straight games.

Unseeded Aisling Blake came close to an upset in her first round tie against eleventh seed Camille Serme.  The Irishwoman came from behind twice to draw level and force a fifth game, but the Paris-born player proved too strong in the decider.  Serme lines up against last month’s China Open champion Low Wee Wern, following the seventh seed’s strong three-game victory over qualifier Melody Francis.

2nd round:
18:00 – [1] Nicol David (MAS) v [16] Joey Chan (HKG)
19:30 – [5] Madeline Perry (IRL) v [9] Kasey Brown (AUS)
15:00 – [3] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) v [12] Dipika Pallikal (IND)
16:30 – [8] Natalie Grinham (NED) v [Q] Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)
17.15 – [7] Low Wee Wern (MAS) v [11] Camille Serme (FRA)
15:45 – [Q] Joshana Chinappa (IND) v [13] Rachael Grinham (AUS)
20:15 – [6] Alison Waters (ENG) v Line Hansen (DEN)
18:45 – Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [10] Joelle King (NZL)