Walsh Heads Australian Charge in Shepparton International

#PSAWorldTour

World No.445 Darcy Walsh advanced to the main draw of a PSA World Tour event for only the second time in his career after beating fellow Australian Adrian McGregor in the qualifying round of the City of Greater Shepparton International, PSA M5 tournament.

Walsh, who made his PSA World Tour debut at last month’s Bendigo International, controlled proceedings against McGregor at the Goulburn Valley Squash Club and cruised to an 11-4, 11-1, 11-4 triumph to reach the main draw.

The 23-year-old will line up against India’s Sandeep Ramachandran for a place in the last eight as he aims to reach the quarter-final of a PSA World Tour event for the first time.

An Australian quartet join Walsh in the main draw, with Aaron Maidment, Shaun McPhillarmy, Kody Harmes and Mark Kitto all progressing past qualifying.

Maidment will do battle with Nathan Lindner in the next round, while McPhillarmy and Harmes will take on Ruan Olivier and David Illich, respectively. Kitto, meanwhile, will contest his first round clash with number three seed Syed Azlan Amjad.

Arnold Phat, Shahzad Khan and SangHoon Lee all received byes through to the main draw and have respective matches against Connor Sheen, Tyler Hawkins and top seed Arthur Gaskin in store.

Results – Qualifying Round: City of Greater Shepparton International 2016
[3] SangHoon Lee (KOR) (bye)
[L] Aaron Maidment (AUS) bt [L] Benjamin Ratcliffe (AUS) 3-2: 11-9, 10-12, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9
[L] Shaun McPhillarmy (AUS) bt [L] Damien Maidment (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-7
[2] Shahzad Khan (PAK) (bye)
[1] Arnold Phat (THA) (bye)
[L] Kody Harmes (AUS) bt [L] Chris Ridgwell (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-5
[L] Mark Kitto (AUS) bt [L] Trevor Harmes (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-8
[4] Darcy Walsh (AUS) bt [L] Adrian McGregor (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-1, 11-4

Main Draw – First Round
[1] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) v [Q] SangHoon Lee (KOR)
Ryan Pascual (MAS) v [WC] Dominique Ratcliffe (AUS)
Tyler Hawkins (AUS) v [Q] Shahzad Khan (PAK)
[Q] Darcy Walsh (AUS) v [7] Sandeep Ramachandran (IND)
[6] Vivian Rhamanan (SIN) v Ben Courtice (AUS)
Nathan Lindner (AUS) v [Q] Aaron Maidment (AUS)
Javed Ali (PAK) v Mohamed Saeed (EGY)
[Q] Mark Kitto (AUS) v [3] Syed Azlad Amjad (QAT)
[4] Solayman Nowrozi (AUS) v Taminder Gata-Aura (ENG)
Darcy Evans (AUS) v Omar El Tahry (EGY)
Min Jae Oh (KOR) v Jason Holmes (AUS)
Chang Wook Woo (KOR) v [5] Joel Luca (AUS)
[8] Connor Sheen (ENG) v [Q] Arnold Phat (THA)
David Illich (AUS) v [Q] Kody Harmes (AUS)
Ruan Olivier (RSA) v [Q] Shaun McPhillarmy (AUS)
Guhan Senthilkumar (IND) v [2] Rohan Toole (AUS)