Weekend RoundUp: Low & Hedrick claim Australian Open titles

Australia’s World No.64 Rex Hedrick and Malaysia’s World No.70 Low Wee Wern claimed the men’s and women’s Australia Open titles over the weekend as the first tournament of the PSA Challenger Tour took place.

Top seed Hedrick did not drop a single game throughout the entire tournament as he defeated Switzerland’s World No.84 Dimitri Steinmann in the final by an 11-4, 12-10, 11-5 scoreline in 61 minutes to become the first home winner of the tournament for nine years.

The title is also the 29-year-old’s biggest PSA title with his last victory coming at the ACT Open earlier this year when he defeated Addeen Idrakiein the final.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Low storming comeback onto the PSA Tour continues as she wrapped up her third successive title in Melbourne.

The 28-year-old returned to playing last month and has already won every tournament she has featured in, including the Malaysian Open and the City of Devonport Tasmanian Open.

Low has now made it three back-to-back titles with victory over Egyptian Hana Ramadan in the final of the Australian Open as she completed an 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 win in 60 minutes.

The win marks Low’s 10th PSA title and a winning streak of 16 matches.

Results
Men’s Round One
Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) bt [WC] Darren Chan (MAS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-3 (26m)
Ryan Pasqual (MAS) bt Thomas King (CAN) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-8 (38m)
Elvinn Keo (MAS) bt Chang-Wook Woo (KOR) 3-1: 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8 (29m)
Scott Galloway (NZL) bt Zac Millar (NZL) 3-1: 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6 (27m)
Bryan Lim Tze Kang (MAS) bt [WC] Lachlan Coxsedge (AUS) 3-1: 11-9, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9 (40m)
Alex Eustace (AUS) bt David Ilich (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 (24m)
Luke Jones (NZL) bt [WC] Rohan Toole (AUS) 3-2: 10-12, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9 (55m)
Joel Luca (AUS) bt Courtney West (AUS) 3-2: 12-10, 6-11, 3-11, 11-6, 11-4 (50m)

Women’s Round One
Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt Aika Azman (MAS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (20m)
Selena Shaikh (AUS) bt Maria Kalafatis (AUS) 3-0: 11-1, 11-5, 11-1 (14m)
Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) bt Lynette Vai (PNG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 (16m)
Colette Sultana (MLT) bt Taylor Flavell (AUS) 3-1: 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6 (32m)
Hana Ramadan (EGY) bt Chan Yiwen (MAS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 13-11 (27m)
Ooi Kah Yan (MAS) bt [WC] Shehana Vithana (AUS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-2 (19m)
Nadia Pfister (SUI) bt [WC] Courtney Mather (AUS) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (18m)

Men’s Round Two
Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) bt [6] Rhys Dowling (AUS) 3-0: 11-9, 11-1, 11-5 (25m)
[1] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt Ryan Pasqual (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-0, 11-3 (25m)
[7] Evan Williams (NZL) bt Elvinn Keo (MAS) 3-0: 11-7, 14-12, 11-7 (33m)
[2] Joshua Larkin (AUS) bt Joel Luca (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-1 (19m)
Luke Jones (NZL) bt [8] Thomas Calvert (AUS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 (31m)
[3] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) bt Alex Eustace (AUS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (39m)
[5] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) bt Bryan Lim Tze Kang (MAS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-6 (22m)
[4] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) bt Scott Galloway (NZL) 3-0: 12-10, 11-9, 11-4 (24m)

Women’s Round Two
Hana Ramadan (EGY) bt [8] Wen Li Lai (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 (29m)
[1] Christine Nunn (AUS) bt Selena Shaikh (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 (19m)
[5] Sarah Cardwell (AUS) bt Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) 3-0: 11-3, 11-2, 11-1 (22m)
[2] Ho Tze-Lok (HKG) bt Nadia Pfister (SUI) 3-1: 6-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-6 (33m)
Ooi Kah Yan (MAS) bt [6] Jessica Turnbull (AUS) 3-1: 11-9, 11-6, 1-11, 12-10 (31m)
[3] Tong Tsz-Wing (HKG) bt Anna Serme (CZE) 3-2: 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 (52m)
Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt [7] Abbie Palmer (NZL) 3-0: 11-2, 11-7, 11-2 (20m)
[4] Rachel Arnold (MAS) bt Colette Sultana (MLT) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (20m)

Men’s Quarter-finals
[3] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) bt [7] Evan Williams (NZL) 3-2: 8-11, 11-2, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7 (70m)
[1] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) 3-0: 11-8, 11-1, 11-2 (33m)
[4] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) bt Luke Jones (NZL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 (26m)
[5] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) bt [2] Joshua Larkin (AUS) 3-2: 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 10-12, 11-3 (76m)

Women’s Quarter-finals
[3] Tong Tsz-Wing (HKG) bt [5] Sarah Cardwell (AUS) 3-2: 12-14, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (65m)
Hana Ramadan (EGY) bt [1] Christine Nunn (AUS) 3-1: 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3 (43m)
[4] Rachel Arnold (MAS) bt Ooi Kah Yan (MAS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (23m)
Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt [2] Ho Tze-Lok (HKG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (24m)

Men’s Semi-finals
[3] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) bt [5] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 (32m)
[1] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt [4] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 3-0: 11-1, 11-4, 11-3 (25m)

Women’s Semi-finals
Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt [3] Tong Tsz-Wing (HKG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-8 (26m)
Hana Ramadan (EGY) bt [4] Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-1: 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-3 (39m)

Men’s Final
[1] Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt [3] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) 3-0: 11-4, 12-10, 11-5 (61m)

Women’s Final
Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt Hana Ramadan (EGY) 3-1: 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 (60m)