Coll Wins First Round While King Gets Ready

World No.10 Paul Coll has won his first round match at the US$100,000 2017 Channel VAS Championships at St George’s Hill defeating Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly in straight games.

The tournament is where Coll kick-started his rapid ranking rise last year by winning the title accounting for higher ranked players along the way to his win.

On this occasion Coll played an almost error-free first round match winning 11-4 11-5 11-7 over Cuskelly in 55 minutes.

"Me and Ryan have played a few times, we seem to get each other quite a lot," said Coll. "I know his game and he’s a solid player, so I knew it was going to be a battle and I just tried to be even more solid. I really like the court and I’ve got good memories here, so I felt relaxed and just played my game, I felt really good out there.

"It feels great to be back, the court suits me well and I enjoy the atmosphere here. I know a lot of people round here, so it creates a very relaxed environment for me.

Later today Waikato’s Joelle King plays her first match at the US$50,000 Carol Weymuiller Open in Brooklyn, New York. The tournament runs 19-23 October (US time) with King the fifth seed and due to face England’s Millie Tomlinson ranked 22nd in the first round.