07-Aug, Final:

[6] Simon Carruthers (Aus) bt [2] Callum O'Brien (Nzl)
      11/7, 11/5, 11/7

Carruthers Collects
Auckland Title

Australian Simon Carruthers upset the form book to take the Tradestaff Auckland Open at the Remuera Racquets Club, comprehensively outplaying second seeded New Zealander Callum O'Brien in the final, winning 11/7 11/5 11/7.

Carruthers also accounted for kiwi number one and top seed Kashif Shuja in the semifinals yesterday, disappointing home fans as both Shuja and O'Brien are based at Remeura.

However, Shuja may get a chance for revenge next weekend, with the two players scheduled to meet in the semifinals of the Barfoot and Thompson Royal Oak Open, also in Auckland.

Meanwhile, world number 13 Shelley Kitchen strolled to victory in the final of the women's event at Remuera.

Kitchen proved too good for New Zealand team-mate Jaclyn Hawkes, winning the title decider 9/4, 9/1, 9/1.

Remuera Roundup
from Daniel Zilic

Yesterday saw the last of Kashif, who once again lost to Simon Carruthers (he lost to him in Australia last week) after leading 2:0 but then looked pretty tired.

Callum beat Jason Mudge surprisingly easy. Both started pounding away at the ball but that kind of game suited Callum better yesterday and Mudge never really looked happy on court. He actually went 0:10 down in the second and we all feared the worst for him but he did eventually get a point.

Didn't see much of the final today but Carruthers, so I was told played very well and didn't make any mistakes really. A good win for him certainly, which should see him go up in next month's ranking to the mid-seventies.

He is seeded to play Kashif in the semis of next week's Barfoot & Thompson Royal Oak Tournament, which will give Kashif the opportunity to end his run of losses.

Didn't see the ladies' match either but I saw Shelley Kitchen run around with a big trophy, so I take it she beat Jackie Hawkes.

The match of the day however was between Chris Ryder and Chris Simpson, playing the finals of the A-Grade tournament.

Ryder managed to lose the match being 9:5 up in the fifth and not converting two match-balls. There was some prize money up for grabs and Simpson was running and retrieving like a man possessed, only to mess up the rally with a crosscourt flick which he played over and over again. Robin Clarke was coaching Simpson and was not a happy man. Anyway, Simpson won 13:11 in the fifth after 84 minutes of great squash.

So that is all from Auckland for this weekend. We are moving to the Royal Oak Club tomorrow for the last tournament of the series. Couple of Aussies are flying back tomorow, but most players are staying on.

It looks as if everyone, even the unfortunate Stuart Crawford, is going to make the qualifying draw.

Will send an email once play has begun, so much for now, cheers,
            Dan

Callum O'Brien

First Round Results:

1. Kashif Shuja (Nzl) bt Q. Robbie Temple (Eng) 9/11 7/11 11/8 12/10 11/2
12. Campbell Grayson (Nzl) bt Q. Brian Byrne (Irl) 11/6 11/7 11/9
5. Timothy Arnold (Mas) bt Q. Mike Elford (Eng) 11/2 11/4 11/7
13. Robin Clarke (Can) bt Sam Atkins (Nzl) 11/9 10/11 11/0 11/7
4. Abdullah Almezayen (Kuw)  bt Q. Dick Lau (Hkg) 11/6 8/11 4/11 11/6 11/3
10. Steve Finitsis (Aus) bt Roger Ngan (Hkg) 11/7 11/7 11/7
6. Simon Carruthers (Aus)  bt Josh Greenfield (Nzl) 11/4 6/11 11/2 11/4
11. David Barnett (Eng) bt Ali Alramezi (Kuw) 7/11 11/6 11/6 11/3
16. Martin Knight (Nzl) bt Scott Arnold (Aus) 11/4 11/9 11/9
7. Jason Mudge (Aus) bt Mohammed Hajeyah (Kuw) 11/3 11/4 11/5
Luke Margan (Aus) bt 9 Bader Al Hussaini (Kuw) 11/8 11/9 9/11 4/11 11/8
3. Aaron Frankcomb (Aus)  bt Q. Parthiban Ayappan (Ind) 11/9 11/2 11/5
Q. Rick Smet (Bel) bt 15. Arthur Gaskin (Irl) 11/6 11/10 11/5
8. Paul Davis (Aus)  bt Q. Graeme Wilson (Nzl) 11/8 11/3 11/9
14. Nasser B Al-Ramzi bt Q. Daniel Zilic (Ger) 9/11 11/8 4/11 119 11/9
2. Callum O'Brien (Nzl) bt Laurence Delasaux (Eng) 11/4 11/13 11/6 11/9
   

05-Aug:
Remuera Roundup: Rounds one and Two ...
Daniel Zilic reports from Auckland

Didn't make it to the internet cafe yesterday as I decided
to drink a lot of beer in order to forget about the miserable game of squash I played ealier. Here is a round up so far:

First round started out with an almost major upset as Robbie Temple was 2:0 against Kashif, who was having trouble with Robbie's two-handed backhand and some kill shots. Robbie really did play very well, swapped rackets three times (he played Harrow, Tecnifibre and ended up with a Dunlop) but Kashif stayed very calm and just about edged it out.

Arthur Gaskin was one of the seeds to fall to qualifier Rik Smet (who got revenge for losing 0:3 in Australia last week) but was troubled by a cut on his right hand after
scraping it on the floor in the first game. Only two Kuwaitis survived round one despite a spirited comeback by Bader Al-Hussaini against Luke Margan, but ultimately losing in five.

The second round saw the last of the Kuwaitis, Steve Finitsis beat Almezayen who was just about going for a crosscourt nick off pretty much every ball, and Robin Clark beating Tim Arnold in three. Tim can't be too happy losing twice in the second round now in a row.

Today the serious stuff began. Simon Carruthers played well to beat Finetsis in four. He went to lose the second game in about four minutes after losing his focus and Finetsis hitting some great drops, but came back strong and was in no danger after that.

The match of the day for me was definitely Jason MUdge and Aaron Francomb. After Mudge won the first quite comfortably things got real heated in the second. Both had several arguments with the ref and with one another and the rallies just got longer and longer. Mudge went on to win the game 18:16 after at least 35 minutes, it was by far the longest game I have seen with the new scoring. Third game things calmed down and Mudge closed it out 11:7 after an hour of real intense squash.

Mudge goes on to play Callum O'Brien (who won in three), Simon Carruthers will be taking on Kashif, who beat Robin Clark 3:0. Robin wasn't all that happy the way he played he said afterwards, but I didn't see any of it.

In the A-Grade Chris Ryder, Chris Simpson, Sam Atkins and Stuart Crawford have made it to the semis.

So much for now, cheers,

Dan Zilic

04-Aug:
Remuera Roundup: Qualifying
Daniel Zilic reports from Auckland

First of all Chris Ryder, Chris Simpson, Stuart Crawford and Seven Preefer were disappointed to hear that all players, including the locals, turned up for qualifying today. Being a reserve is not a happy position to be in, ask these guys!

Anyway, Aileen, the tournament organiser has set up another A-Grade draw with some prize money (featuring some good Kiwis, Shelley Kitchen, and some more first round PSA losers) which most of the guys will be playing in.
 
No shocks in Qualies

Coming back to qualifying all PSA players made the main draw, three matches I think went to five games, with Brian Byrne scraping home 11/8 in the fifth against Will Evans. Parthiban Ayaapan had a rematch from last week in Waikato versus Brent Lewis winning in five (after beating him in four last week).

I managed to beat a guy called Willie in five as well, after some much needed coaching between games four and five by Dave Barnett (thanx!).

All the other guys won 3:0 I think except for Michael Elford who beat Chris McEldowney in four.

12:30 tomorrow the main draw begins, the match to watch has to be (last week's semi-final) between Callum O'Brien and Laurence Delasaux. Martin Knight against Scott Arnold (last week's runner-up) should be a tough one too.

Kuwaiti conundrum

There are five Kuwaiti guys in the main draw and no-one around knows terribly much about them, so that should make for some interesting matches.

They just arrived today after a thirteen hour flight to Melbourne and another three hours from there to Auckland, so some of us are hoping they'll be pretty knackered.

I will be since I am playing the fourteenth seed Al-Ramzi.  I think that is just about all for now, hope to provide you with some more news tomorrow, cheers,

Dan Zilic

O'Brien and Delasaux meet again
Preview from Gary Denvir

New Zealand's Callum O'Brien will get an early chance to make amends for his semi-final exit at the Waikato Open over the weekend.

The kiwi number two missed out on some valuable PSA world ranking points in Hamilton, when he was bundled out by the eventual winner, sixth seeded Englishman Laurence Delasaux.

Second seeded O'Brien gets another crack at Delasaux in the PSA Tour's Tradestaff Auckland Open on Friday, with the two players set to square off in the opening round at the Remuera Racquets Club.

Six players in the world's top 100 will line-up in the 32-strong draw, with kiwi number one Kashif Shuja at the top of the list. Like OBrien, Shuja has a point to prove after crashing out of the first round at the South Australian Open at the weekend, where he was fourth seed.

Australian Aaron Francombe is seeded third behind O'Brien this weekend, with Kuwait's Abdullah Almezayen rounding out the top four.

Meanwhile, there is also an impressive looking line-up for the women's draw, despite there being no WISPA world ranking points on offer.

World number 13 Shelley Kitchen tops the list, which also includes two of her New Zealand teammates from last year's World Championships, Louise Crome and Jaclyn Hawkes. Hawkes heads into the tournament on a high after winning her maiden WISPA title in South Australia, where she beat Crome in the final. And former New Zealand representative Lara Petera-Heta is also in the mix, with the seedings yet to be finalised.

Play gets underway at 12:30 on Friday, with the finals on Sunday.