Thomas sole Kiwi in Challenger quarters
- Dave Worsley
- Jun 26
- 2 min read
One New Zealander, a couple of Dutchman, two Egyptians, a Malaysian, Korean and one player from Hong Kong make up the quarterfinals of the Midlands PSA Challenger tournament in Temuka after the completion of the first two rounds of play.
Second seeded New Zealander Elijah Thomas won through with a tricky contest over countryman William Donnelly in straight games,
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There was always the chance that the unseeded player would pull off a sensational shot every now and then...and he did at times. But it was the steadiness of Thomas ranked 100 in the world which showed through in the end for the win.
Thomas, 22, faces Seojin Oh in the quarters after the Korean accounted for sixth seed Bradley Fullick in a 60-minute four game contest.
Fourth seed Hafiz Zhafri beat Australian Jacob Robinson in a hard-fought match and will now play Egyptian Ahmed Sherif who accounted for Australian 'local' Remi Young.
At the top half of the draw Islam Kouritam beat third seed Leo Chung of Hong Kong in straight games to set up a match with Lap Man Au from Hong Kong who defeated New Zealander Mason Smales in four games on the kiwis 21st birthday.
The big match at the top of the draw features the Dutch duo of Rowan Damming and Sam Gerrits.
Top seed Damming ranked 89 in the world, dropped the first game to Frenchman Antoine Riehl but them stormed back for an easy victory.
Gerrits had the same journey to the quarters losing the first game to New Zealand teen Freddie Jameson 10-12 but coming back strong 11-1, 11-3, 11-5 as the Northlander had no answer to the Dutch players domination of the centre of the court.
The women's Challenger draw gets underway on Friday with New Zealand junior Ella Lash top seed followed by Hungarian Kincso Szász.
Trust Aoraki Midlands PSA And District Squash Open
Men's second round matches - day session
Lap Man Au (HK) bt Mason Smales (Samoa/NZ) 8-11, 13-11, 3-11, 4-11 (46 minutes)
Ahmed Sherif (Egypt) bt Remi Young (Australia)11-8, 11-13, 11-5, 11-9 (44 minutes)
Seojin Oh (Korea) bt (6) Bradley Fullick (Australia) 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-9 (60 minutes)
(2) Elijah Thomas (NZ) v William Donnelly (NZ) 11-6,11-7 , 11-6 (30 minutes)
Afternoon results:
(4) Hafiz Zhafri (Malaysia) bt Jacob Robinson (Australia) 11-5 8-11 15-13 11-4 (57 minutes)
Islam Kouritam (Egypt) ( (3) Leo Chung (Hong Kong) 11-7 11-9, 11-6 (42 minutes)
(8) Sam Gerrits (Netherlands) bt Freddie Jameson (New Zealand) 10-12, 11-1, 11-3, 11-5 (33 minutes)
(1) Rowan Damming (Netherlands) bt Antoine Riehl (France) 6-11, 11-3, 11-1, 11-2 (30 minutes)
