Hedrick Sole Aussie Left in Men’s Victorian Open

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Second seed Rex Hedrick is flying the flag for his native Australia after moving through to the last eight of the Victorian Open, PSA M10 tournament courtesy of a 3-0 win over New Zealand qualifier Luke Jones in Melbourne.

World No.57 Hedrick, who bowed out at the second round stage of last year’s tournament, was in fine fettle throughout the 28-minute encounter and powered to victory by an 11-5, 11-1, 11-4 scoreline.

Hedrick will take on number five seed Joel Makin in the quarter-final as he looks to exact revenge for his defeat to the Welshman during the 2015 instalment of this tournament. Makin sealed his place in the last eight thanks to a routine 3-0 win over Ben Grindrod and will clash with Hedrick for the second time on the PSA World Tour.

Rhys Dowling and Thomas Calvert were the other Australians on show on the second day of action, but they succumbed to respective defeats against Switzerland’s Reiko Peter and Ireland’s Arthur Gaskin.

Peter will take on 20-year-old Indian Kush Kumar for a place in the semi-final after Kumar defeated compatriot Sandeep Ramachandran, while Gaskin is set to face top seed Joe Lee, who axed Elvinn Keo.

World No.84 Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and New Zealand’s Evan Williams will contest the other quarter-final fixtures, with Sandhu seeing off Beddoes and Williams dispatching July PSA Player of the Month Vincent Droesbeke.

Results – Second Round: Victorian Open 2016
[1] Joe Lee (ENG) bt [6] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 (33m)
[6] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) bt Thomas Calvert (AUS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (41m)
[7] Evan Williams (NZL) bt [Q] Vincent Droesbeke (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 (26m)
[3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt Lance Beddoes (NZL) 3-1: 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 (47m)
[4] Reiko Peter (SUI) bt Rhys Dowling (AUS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 (32m)
[8] Kush Kumar (IND) bt [Q] Sandeep Ramachandran 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (18m)
[5] Joel Makin (WAL) bt (NZL) Ben Grindrod (NZL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (33m)
[2] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt [Q] Luke Jones (NZL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-1, 11-4 (28m)

Draw – Quarter-Final
[1] Joe Lee (ENG) v [6] Arthur Gaskin (IRL)
[7] Evan Williams (NZL) v [3] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)
[4] Reiko Peter (SUI) v [8] Kush Kumar (IND)
[5] Joel Makin (WAL) v [2] Rex Hedrick (AUS)