City of Kalgoorlie Open Preview: White Aiming For Back-To-Back Wins

The City of Kalgoorlie – Boulder Golden Open kicks off on Friday, and Australia’s Joseph White is aiming for back-to-back wins on the Tour.

White was the victor at last week’s Barfoot & Thompson Auckland/Oceania Open, beating New Zealand’s Lwamba and Temwa Chileshe, the tournament’s top two seeds, en route to taking the title.

We spoke to the Australian No.1 ahead of this week’s Challenger 3 level City of Kalgoorlie – Boulder Golden Open, and he admits that he is looking for the consistency which could see him take back-to-back wins.

“It was a great week in Auckland, I’m very fortunate to have stayed with a great host family who I’ve stayed with previously, so I had a really good preparation for the event and was able to recover well after some tough matches to come through and take the title,” he explained.

“For the first few months of the year I had a lot of travel and hard training being based overseas in the US working with Rodney Martin and Ryan Cuskelly. So it was nice to see the hard work pay off and get the title. 

“I’ve been working on the consistency in my game and being able to back up performances and come through matches where I may not be playing my best. So being able to back up this weekend and produce a good performance is definitely the goal.”

Off the back of the win in Auckland, White will be the top seed this week in Kalgoorlie. Despite that, he doesn’t believe there will be any extra pressure on home soil, as he continues his push towards the world’s top 100.

“I don’t feel that being the top seed adds to much pressure for me heading into this weekend. The depth of the Tour these days means you need to be ready to play good squash from the first round and seeding isn’t always reflective of players ability,” White said.

“So I think this weekend comes with the same challenges as any event and I need to focus on my own processes to play my best squash. 

“I feel that the level of squash that I’m playing is getting closer and closer to guys within the top 100 and the overseas exposure earlier in the year has definitely helped me in getting more confident against higher ranked players and identifying areas in which I need to improve to be able to really challenge and start beating those players.”

White will be the top seed this week, with compatriots Nicholas Calvert and Mike Corren among the top four seeds. Corren is a six-time winner of this tournament, and will be looking to add to his 52 title on Tour.

Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri and Pakistan’s Zeeshan Zeb will be the only non-Australians among the top eight seeds for the tournament. They will be joined by James Lloyd, Oscar Curtis and Tate Zak Norris as the rest of the seeded players in Kalgoorlie.

The event takes place from Friday, June 2 to Sunday, June 4 at the Ray Finlayson Sporting Club in Kalgoorlie, where Joseph White is the top seed for the tournament. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: City of Kalgoorlie – Boulder Golden Open
[1] Joseph White (AUS) – [Bye]
Shamil Wakeel (SRI) v [5] James Lloyd (AUS)
[6] Zeeshan Zeb (PAK) v David Turner (AUS)
[3] Nicholas Calvert (AUS) – [Bye]
[4] Mike Corren (AUS) v Ryu Jeongmin (KOR)
Remi Young (AUS) v [7] Oscar Curtis (AUS)
[8] Tate Zak Norris (AUS) v David Ilich (AUS)
[2] Ravindu Laksiri (SRI) – [Bye]