North Coast Open Gets Underway

#PSAWorldTour

The North Coast Open, PSA M5 event has an unpredictable field that could throw up a few shocks when the main draw starts on Friday September 4.

Joshua Larkin takes the favourite tag and his good form so far in 2015 has seen him rise nearly 30 places up the World Rankings.

He reached the final of the City of Greater Bendigo International last month but back-to-back successes at the City of Kalgoorlie & Boulder Golden Open and the City of Perth WA Open show that Larkin definitely has the potential to lift some silverware in his home country of Australia.

Melbourne-born Larkin opens up against Ben Takamizawa Harris in the first round in a repeat of the pair’s encounter in the quarter-final of the Golden Open.

Scotland’s Douglas Kempsell is also in with a chance of claiming the crown and the World No.122 lifted the Greater Shepparton City Council International title last month in addition to participating in the fifth longest professional squash match ever recorded in the semi-final of the same event.

He faces Rohan Toole for a place in the second round with the Australian looking to make a big splash on home soil.

Number three seed Kashif Shuja will be looking to add to his 11 PSA World Tour titles but has not tasted success since 2012 when he won the Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers Manawatu Classic/Central Open.

The experienced 36-year-old has managed two semi-final finishes so far this year and meets Chang Wook Woo in round one with the winner likely to face Wook Woo’s compatriot Seongyeon Yoo in the second round.

Ben Grindrod is still yet to capture his maiden PSA World Tour title but will be looking to break his duck this time around. The New Zealander has shown good progress in 2015 though and reached the semi-final of a PSA World Tour event for the first time at the Squash Waikato Golden Jubilee Open back in May. TJ French awaits Grindrod in the first round.

Main Draw: PSA M5, North Coast Open, Coffs Harbour, Australia
[1] Joshua Larkin (AUS) v Ben Takamizawa Harris (JPN)
Ondrej Uherka (CZE) v Roee Avraham (ISR)
Sam Gould (USA) v [Q] Nicholas Calvert (AUS)
Ben Coates (ENG) v [7] Thomas Calvert (AUS)
[6] Martin Svec (CZE) v David Clegg (AUS)
Solayman Nowrozi (AUS) v [Q] Edgar Ramirez (COL)
Seongyeon Yoo (KOR) v [Q] Keelan Birch (AUS)
Chang Wook Woo (KOR) v [3] Kashif Shuja (NZL)
[4] Ben Grindrod (NZL) v TJ French (AUS)
Jason Holmes (AUS) v [Q] David Wigley (AUS)
Mithran Selvaratnam (MAS) v [Q] Jordan Till (AUS)
[Q] Michael Bolton v [8] Darcy Evans (AUS)
[5] Rhys Dowling (AUS) v Mohamed Abdelkalek (EGY)
Lewis Doughty (ENG) v [Q] Mike Corren (AUS)
Ruan Olivier (RSA) v [Q] Nathan Turnbull (AUS)
Rohan Toole (AUS) v [2] Douglas Kempsell (SCO)