The squash competition starts to get serious on Day Three with, for the most part, the top sixteen seeds battling it our for places in the quarter-finals.
There were two significant upsets as Scotland’s Rory Stewart beat 3/4 seed Patrick Rooney and Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold ousted women’s 5/8 seed Tesni Evans.
Stewart stuns Rooney as Quarter-Finalists are decided
Scotland’s 9/16 seed seed Rory Stewart delivered the shock of the tournament so far as he produced a stunning comeback to knock out England’s 3/4 seed Patrick Rooney 3-2 and set up a quarter-final against defending champion James Willstrop.
Rooney went into the match with a 3-0 head-to-head record over Stewart, with their most recent match a straight-games victory for the Englishman in the PSL Cup in May. The Scotsman deservedly took the first game 12-10. Rooney improved in the second game, levelling 11-7 before edging in front with a fiercely contested 12-10 of his own.
Rooney made a confident start to the fourth game and must have thought he had one foot in the quarter-final when he raced into a 7-0 lead, but Stewart fought back and saved four match balls forced the match into a fifth game 13-11.
Stewart then put together another spectacular scoring blitz to race from 4-3 down to an 11-4 win after a brief wait for a video review to confirm his win.
“I’m delighted,” Stewart said afterwards. “To be honest I’d have said to myself I was probably getting beaten and to do anything more than that, I’d be happy to accept as a bonus. I definitely felt the tension. I think [my Scotland teammates] probably all thought I was 7-0 down. My ranking is lower than Patrick, but on a glass court I can pull off wins like this. There are a lot of Scots here and I’m glad they got to see this!”
Despite Rooney’s loss the England team may reflect on the day as being a positive one overall after the other five members of their contingent recorded wins to reach the quarter-finals.
3/4 seed Georgina Kennedy despatched Canada’s Nicole Bunyan while James Willstrop capped his 200th England appearance with a comfortable win over Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal.
Reacting after her 11-3, 11-1, 11-3 win, Kennedy said: “It’s crazy, I’ve said a few times that it’s been a dream since I was a girl to compete with Team England and just to be here is a life goal achieved. “But now, after the successful year I’ve had, my perspective has changed. I don’t want to just show up. I want to reach the podium. I’m so lucky to play on this glass in front of an amazing crowd.”
Earlier in the day top seed and Paul Coll avoided suffering a similar fate to Rooney when he fought back from a game down against spirited Welshman Emyr Evans, saving a game ball in the fourth to avoid the need for a decider, setting up a quarter-final match against England’s Adrian Waller, who brushed aside Jamaica’s Christopher Binnie 3-0.
“I think Emyr did really well. He put in a great performance and should be proud of himself today, he really made me work for it,” Coll said.
Elsewhere, India, Malaysia and Wales sent two players each into the quarter-finals.
For India, men’s 3/4 seed Saurav Ghosal and women’s 3/4 seed Joshna Chinappa put in assured performances to put away Canada’s 9/16 seed David Baillargeon and New Zealand’s Kaitlyn Watts, while Malaysia’s 9/16 seed Rachel Arnold upset Wales’ 5/8 seed Tesni Evans to join compatriot and 5/8 seed Eain Yow Ng in the quarters after he beat Canada’s Nick Sachvie.
There was consolation for both Wales and Canada, though, after Welsh No.2 seed Joel Makin and 5/8 seed Emily Whitlock progressed through to the quarter-finals, while Canada’s 5/8 seed Hollie Naughton beat Malaysia’s 9/16 seed Aifa Azman for a second-successive 3-0 win.
Completing the draw is women’s top seed and defending champion Joelle King, who will play England’s 5/8 seed Lucy Turmel, and Scotland’s 5/8 seed Greg Lobban, who beat Malaysia’s 9/16 seed Ivan Yuen in a see-saw encounter.
