An upset in the first round of the New Zealand Squash Open in Christchurch, with 18-year-old Ollie Dunbar winning his opening match.
Dunbar from Wellington defeated world No.54 Rui Soares of Portugal in a dominant performance defying his ranking of 257 to outsmart his opponent
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“That’s definitely the biggest win of my career. It was great to do that at home, I’ve got my Dad here and a few clubmates came to watch so it’s pretty cool,” said Dunbar.
“I came in with no expectations which helped me play well. There was great support for me from the crowd and I just went out there and tried to keep it simple and play my game.”
Dunbar punished mistakes and was accurate on attack to take the match 3-1: 11-6, 7-11, 11-3, 11-4 in 47-minutes.
Three other Kiwis were in action on day one, including five-time Commonwealth Games champion Joelle King who was battling a knee niggle.
King’s restricted movement meant she was unable to rely on her trademark retrievals and Azman took full advantage, consistently hitting the target with winners to defeat King in three games with an 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 win.
Auckland wildcard Ella Lash put up a brave fight against Malaysia’s Ainaa Amani.
Lash was competitive across all three games and will take a number of positives from the match despite going down 14-12, 11-8, 11-9.
Wildcard Anthony Lepper from Auckland was the final Kiwi in action, up against Spain’s Bernat Jaume.
Lepper was outclassed by the Spaniard who was simply too good, taking the win in straight games 11-2, 11-6, 11-2.
The tournament is being contested from March 4th to 9th in Christchurch’s iconic Isaac Theatre Royal, where a glass court has been installed on stage.
New Zealand’s world No 4 Paul Coll gets his campaign underway against Japan’s Ryūnosuke Tsukue.