Men’s Round 1 Qualifying Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers NZ International Classic Complete

The first round of the men’s qualifying for the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers NZ International Classic has all gone to plan with the top seeded players moving through to the final round of qualification.

Addeen Idrakie of Malaysia and Sean Conroy of Ireland took to their local players Kashif Shuja and Hugh Jackson in strong form with both local players battling well, but it was not enough with Idrakie and Conroy claiming the wins 3-0.

It was an all New Zealand round next with Luke Jones and Jason Van Der Walt doing battle less than 2 weeks after they competed in the Gibson O’Connor North Shore Open and PSA. Unfortunately for Van Der Walt he wasn’t able to turn the score around this week and he went down in 4. Ben Grindrod and Zac Millar did battle on the other court and it was Grindrod who proved to be too strong for Millar this round claiming his win 3-0.

Matias Tuomi of Finland and Valentino Bong of Malaysia both faced local hopefuls in their first round playing Corbin Faint and Richard Bell respectively. These young SquashGym players took to the court well against their more experienced PSA counterparts, but it was not to be for these young hopefuls today with Tuomi and Bong claiming their wins in 3.

The last round of the night saw Daniel Mekbib of the Czech Republic take on New Zealander Sion Wiggin. Mekbib was too strong for the Kiwi player with Mekbib taking the win 3-0. Brad Masters of England made his way into the final round of qualification with Mohamed ElSherbini of Egypt not arriving due to VISA issues.

Full game results and final qualifying round matches can be found below.

The final round of qualifying for the men’s draw kicks off tonight at 6pm and the first round of women’s qualifying starts Thursday at 10am.

Livestreaming begins 5pm Thursday and links can be found here and here or below in this article.

Check out the schedule of play for the Livestreaming of the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers, New Zealand International Classic PSA here:

• Court Schedule Palmy

If you wish to commentate or watch some alternative commentary from the weekend jump over to SPALK here.

Men’s Qualifying Round 1

[1] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) bt [L] Kashif Shuja (NZL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-7
[7] Sean Conroy (IRL) bt [L] Hugh Jackson (NZL) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-4
[8] Luke Jones (NZL) bt Jason van der Walt (NZL) 3-0: 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 13-11
[3] Ben Grindrod (NZL) bt Zac Millar (NZL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-9, 11-4
[4] Matias Tuomi (FIN) bt [L] Corbin Faint (NZL) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-6
[6] Valentino Bong (MAS) bt [L] Richard Bell (NZL) 3-0: 11-3, 11-2, 11-4
[5] Daniel Mekbib (CZE) bt Sion Wiggin (NZL) 3-0: 11-2, 11-2, 11-5
Bradley Masters (ENG) bt [2] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) Walkover

Men’s Qualifying Final Round

[1] Addeen Idrakie (MAS) vs [7] Sean Conroy (IRL)
[8] Luke Jones (NZL) vs [3] Ben Grindrod (NZL)
[4] Matias Tuomi (FIN) vs [6] Valentino Bong (MAS)
[5] Daniel Mekbib (CZE) vs Bradley Masters (ENG)

Women’s Qualifying Round 1

[1] Abbie Palmer (NZL) vs [L] Annaleise Faint (NZL)
[L] Winona-Jo Joyce (NZL) vs [6] Anika Jackson (NZL)
[7] Lauren Clarke (NZL) vs Nadia Hubbard (NZL)
[L] Courtney Trail (NZL) vs [3] Hwayeong Eum (KOR)
[4] Ellie Jones (ENG) vs [L] Grace Hymers (NZL)
[L] Camden Te Kani-McQueen (NZL) vs [8] You Jiyoung (KOR)
[5] Aifa Azman (MAS) vs [L] Danielle Fourie (NZL)
[L] Rhiarne Taiapa (NZL) vs [2] Moana Gray (AUS)