Tue 18 Sep, Day ONE:
Hong Kong women edge through to round two
It was a good day for the home players in the women's draw
as the Queclink HKFC got under way in Hong Kong - now thankfully
free of Typhoon Mangkhut - as they won four of the eight round
one, three of them in five games to beat 9/16 seeds.
Vanessa Chu had chances to beat rising Malaysian
Sivasangari Subramanian in straight games, but was nevertheless
delighted to deny Siva's comeback.
"I made a few errors in the third and fourth, so I just threw
everything at it in the fifth. I don't know why but I always
play well here, delighted to win again!"
Lee Ka Yi and Hollie Naughton, both just back from the
World Teams in Dalian, also battled it out in five, the Hong
Kong youngster coming from two-nil down to claim a second round
spot.
"I wasn't focusing well in the first two games, I knew I needed
to do that better. In the third and fourth my volley drops
started going in which gave me confidence, and I managed to keep
that going."
Tong Tsz Wing also beat one of the game's rising young
stars in five, easing through the fifth in a seesaw battle with
Japan's Satomi Watanabi.
"It's been a good day for us," she conceded, "hopefully we can
keep it going tomorrow!"
The fourth home winner was Ho Tze Lok, who eased past
wildcard HKFC coach Carmen Lee in three.
The other women's seeding upset saw Malaysia's Rachel Arnold
beat Egyptian Nada Abbas in rthree close games.
The seven men's matches - one is being played tomorrow due to
late arrival - didn't see any home winners and only one upset as
German youngster Yannic Omlor opened the day with a four
game win over Egyptian Ahmed Hosny, while five games were needed
by Malaysia's Mohd Syafiq Kamal and Pakistan's Tayyab
Aslam.
The day also featured an opening function attended by
players, officials, sponsors, and representatives from HK and
Asian Squash (photos in the gallery) and junior clinics
featuring many of the pro players including Leo Au, who was
showing off his Asian Games medals !
Tomorrow sees the seeded players join the action,
another 16 matches starting at 15.00.
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