Grayson's heartbreaker in first round of Swedish Open

Kiwi men's squash No2 Campbell Grayson started as a qualifier in the US$70,000 Case Swedish Open.

Campbell made easy work of his first round qualifying match, beating Sebastian Victor of Sweden 11-2, 11-2, 11-6 and then faced Hong Kong's Max Lee, ranked 43 in the world. It was a harder match, but Campbell won 3-1 to take him through to the Main Draw of the large European event.

Campbell drew South African, Steve Coppinger, ranked 25th in the world who he last faced in 2007 (losing 1-3). In an epic 92-minute see-saw battle, Grayson, with his current world ranking of 57 came close to a huge upset over the tall Irish born player, but could not complete the set, losing 11-9 8-11 7-11 14-12 11-4.

Grayson now stays in Scandinavia, where he is in the Main Draw of the US$15,000 Finnish Open, starting 10 February. Fellow kiwi Kashif Shuja is qualifying in the same event.

Campbell Grayson v Steve Coppinger, Swedish Open January 2012