Top seeds progress at Temuka PSA Challenger
- Dave Worsley
- Jun 27
- 2 min read
The top seeded players won their respective matches to progress at the Trust Aoraki Midlands PSA Challenger Squash tournaments in Temuka, the men through to the semifinals and the women's tournament into the last eight.
Top seed, 19-year-old Ella Lash at 117 in the world rankings eased past Waikato's Amber Helm in straight games and was joined in the quarters by second seed and fellow teen Jasmine Thirst who is British born, but now under a New Zealand flag.
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Others to make the women's the last eight include third and fourth seeds Jena Gregory from Hawkes Bay and Emma Merson another 19-year-old from the Bay of Plenty. Maiden Lee Coe, Georgia Robcke, Lily Rae and Lowri Waugh also won their opening matches.
In the men's draw there were lengthy clashes with every match over 40 minutes and a couple hitting the hour mark including the first five-game encounter where fourth seed Hafiz Zhafri from Malaysia triumphed over Ahmed Sherif of Egypt in what was a fiery and entertaining match.
In the all-Dutch battle, top seed and world No 89 Rowan Damming defeated eighth seeded Sam Gerrits in straight games but had to fight in the first set winning 11-9 before racing through with the scoreline.
The longest match of the day went in favour of Egyptian Islam Kouritan who accounted for Hong Kong player Lap Man Au in 67 minutes in four sets.
New Zealand second seed Elijah Thomas had a fight on his hands to overcome Korea's Seojin Oh. Thomas had to come from 0-5 down in the first game and 0-4 in the second to secure his 12-10, 11-8, 11-9 result and will face left-handed Zhafri in the semifinals.
All matches are on the international glass court at the 'Shed' in Temuka with the finals to be held on Sunday afternoon.
Results:
Trust Aoraki Midlands PSA And District Squash Open - New Zealand unless noted, women's first round.
Georgia Robcke bt Kelsi Carrick 11-5 11-4 11-4 (15 mins)
Maiden Lee Coe bt Erin Ellery 11-1 11-1 11-6 (16 mins)
(2)Jasmine Thirst bt Brooke Pryor 11-4 11-1 11-2 (13 mins)
(1)Ella Lash bt Amber Helm 11-1 11-3 11-1 (13 mins)
Lily Rae bt Moriya Karati 11-6 12-10 8-11 11-5 (26 mins)
Lowri Waugh bt Neiro Suzuki (Japan) 8-11 11-6 11-9 11-5 (25 mins)
(3)Jena Gregory bt Emma Millar 11-9 11-8 8-11 11-9 (24 mins)
(4)Emma Merson bt Katrina Palmer (Australia) 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 (15 mins)
Trust Aoraki Midlands PSA And District Squash Open
Men's quarterfinal matches
(1) Rowan Damming (Netherlands) bt (8) Sam Gerrits (Netherlands) 11-9., 11-5, 11-3 (43 mins)
Islam Kouritam (Egypt) bt Lap Man Au (HK) 11-9, 14-12, 4-11, 11-4 9 (67 minutes)
(4) Hafiz Zhafri (Malaysia) bt Ahmed Sherif (Egypt) 11-9, 11-3, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5 (63 min)
(2) Elijah Thomas (NZ) bt Seojin Oh (Korea)12-10, 11-8, 11-9, (43 mins)
