Day 1 of Victorian Open

It has been a bag of mixed results at the PSA Victorian Open in Melbourne yesterday but the kiwi flag is still flying strong.

In the Women's Draw Megan Craig and Amanda Landers Murphy, seeded 7th and 6th respectively, both had first round Byes meaning they got another day to relax before their first games today. Danielle Fourie however had to come up against 12th seed Sachika Ingale of India. Fourie battled hard pushing the Indian player in 3 games but she was not able to convert this into a win. Ingale will face Landers-Murphy in the second round. 

In the Men's Draw Lance Beddoes had to battle it out against Farhan Zaman of Pakistan in his first round. Beddoes managed to clinch a tough first game but even with some valiant efforts on court and staying right in every game he was not able to convert this to a win going down in 4. Paul Coll is seeded 7th in the tournament and played Martin Svec of the Czech Republic first up. Coll showed domination from the beginning and never let Svec find his momentum in the game, taking the win in 3. Coll will now play Matthew Hopkin of Australia in his second round, Hopkin was Coll's teammate in the winning Cousins Shield team so this is sure to be a tough battle.

Chris Van Der Salm had made it through to the main draw and he was still on a high from this, he battled hard and managed to level the scores at 1-1 in the second against Australian Joshua Larkin, however he couldn't manage to get across the line going down in 4. Evan Williams was always going to have a tough fight against fifth seed Rex Hedrick of Australia. Williams fought hard but couldn't match the Australian eventually going down in 3. 

Ben Grindrod also had a tough first round against Austrlian Steve Finitsis. Grindrod couldn't seem to find the magic on court today and went down in 3. Kashif Shuja had one of the biggest games of the day against Manuel Wanner of Switzerland. It went game for game and at one point in the fourth it looked to be all over for Shuja but he pulled it back and came out firing in the fifth claiming the game and the match in victorious style. Shuja will play Kush Kumar of India next, with Kumar having dispatched the second seed this is sure to be a battle on court.

All draws and games can be found here 

First Round

Megan Craig (7) vs BYE

Amanda Landers-Murphy (6) vs BYE

Danielle Fourie lost Sachika Ingale (India) - 11-7,12-10,12-14,12-10

Lance Beddoes lost Farhan Zaman (Pakistan) - 10-12,11-9,11-9,11-9 

Paul Coll bt Martin Svec (Czech Republic) - 11-6,11-5,11-3 

Chris Van Der Salm lost Joshua Larkin (Australia) - 11-6,12-14,11-8,11-7

Evan Williams lost Rex Hedrick (Australia) - 11-6,11-5,11-9

Ben Grindrod lost Steve Finitsis (Australia) - 11-3,11-2,11-7

Kashif Shuja bt Manuel Wanner (Switzerland) - 5-11,11-8,11-13,13-11,11-3

Second Round

Megan Craig (7) vs Alexandra Fuller (RSA)

Amanda Landers-Murphy (6) vs Sachika Ingale (India)

Paul Coll (7) vs Matthew Hopkin (Australia)

Kashif Shuja vs Kush Kumar (India)