Gadola Upsets Zaman as Grinham Wins on Day Two at Volkswagen Bega Open

Robin Gadola caused a huge upset on day two of the Volkswagen Bega Open, knocking out No.1 seed Noor Zaman to reach the quarter-finals. 

Gadola came into this event in great form having won the Eastside Open a few days ago – his second Tour title – but few would have expected him to get past Zaman, a player ranked more than 50 places above him in the rankings. 

The Swiss player produced a sensational display, though, especially across the first two games, winning them both 11-4 before closing out victory 11-9 in the third. 

The 29-year-old will now play Australian fifth seed Rhys Dowling, who avoided an upset against compatriot Dylan Molinaro, but the same could not be said for fourth seed Darren Pragasam. 

The young Malaysian took games one and two against Japan’s Tomo Endo, only to succumb to a stunning turnaround from the World No.166, who fought back to win in five after 57 minutes of action. 

In-form David Bernet – a finalist in each of his last two events – also knocked out a seed, beating No.3 seed Elijah Thomas, but there was so such trouble for women’s No.3 seed Rachael Grinham. 

The 47-year-old returned to action at this year’s City Tattersalls Group Australian Open after two years away from the Tour, and is playing in her first event since then here in Bega. 

A former World No.1, Grinham is playing here under her pegged ranking of No.102, and opened her account with a 3-0 win over Sugimoto Risa, setting up an all-Australian quarter-final against Sophie Fadaely, who was born in 2004, the same year that Grinham first got to World No.1. 

Sarah Cardwell, Madison Lyon and Erin Classen all enjoyed successful days in round two as well, meaning there will be five home favourites in the women’s quarter-finals.

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