Challenger Events

Victorian Open: RD1 Concludes In Melbourne

12 July 2023

Round one of the Victorian Open concluded at the Mulgrave Country Club yesterday as 16 players claimed a place in round two to meet the top eight seeds who received byes in the opening round.

In the women’s draw there was triple success for three wildcards Courtney Scholtz, Carina Loi and Remashree Muniandy who beat Aiman Shahbaz, Riffat Khan and Jennifer Condie to move into the second round of the event.

The rest of the 9/16 seeds all won in convincing straight game wins apart from Australia’s Pascale Louka who overcame Macau’s Liu Kwai Chi in four games, winning in 24 minutes.

The match of the day came in the men’s event however as Dylan Molinaro ended day one with an amazing recovery to beat Egypt’s Mohamed Gohar from 2-0 down. The Egyptian, brother of women’s World No.1 Nouran Gohar, looked in great form and raced out to a 2-0 lead. Molinaro claimed a tight third game 11-9 before confidently winning games four and five both 11-4 to move into round two where he will face compatriot and No.6 seed Rhys Dowling.

It was a good day for the French players in the draw as they enjoyed three winners on day one with Paul Gonzalez, Baptiste Bouin and Laouenan Loaec all claimed wins to reach the second round. Gonzalez and and Bouin were unseeded and defeated Malaysia’s Hafiz Zhafri and Denmark’s Theis Houlberg in entertaining clashes.

The top seeds enter the fray on day two with plenty of interesting matches lined up in Melbourne. You can keep up to date with daily updates from the tournament on the PSA Challenger Tour’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

Results: Victorian Open Men’s RD1
[9/16] Brice Nicolas (FRA) bt [WC] Harvey Allan (AUS) 3-0: 11-1, 13-11, 11-1 (22m)
Dylan Molinaro (AUS) bt [9/16] Mohamed Gohar (EGY) 3-2: 8-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-4 (74m)
[9/16] Anthony Lepper (NZL) bt [WC] Andre Lynn (AUS) 3-0: 14-12, 11-3, 12-10 (38m)
[9/16] Joel Arscott (NZL) bt [WC] Connor Hayes (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 (32m)
Shamil Wakeel (SRI) bt [9/16] Shota Yasunari (JPN) 3-1: 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 (56m)
Paul Gonzalez (FRA) bt [9/16] Hafiz Zhafri (MAS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-9, 11-4 (33m)
Baptiste Bouin (FRA) bt [9/16] Theis Houlberg (DEN) 3-1: 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3 (42m)
[9/16] Laouenan Loaec (FRA) bt [WC] Javed Ali (AUS) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (23m)

Results: Victorian Open Women’s RD1

[9/16] Colette Sultana (MLT) bt Ayaka Matsuzawa (JPN) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-1 (17m)
[9/16] Sze Yu Lee (AUS) bt Maria Kalafatis (AUS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-3, 11-1 (14m)
[9/16] Mingyeong Heo (KOR) bt Amelie Guziak (AUS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5 11-0 (15m)
[WC] Courtney Scholtz (AUS) bt [9/16] Aiman Shahbaz (PAK) 3-0: 11-1, 11-6, 11-1 (11m)
[9/16] Pascale Louka (AUS) bt Liu Kwai Chi (MAC) 3-1: 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4 (24m)
[WC] Carina Loi (AUS) bt [9/16] Riffat Khan (PAK) 3-0: 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 (15m)
[WC] Remashree Muniandy (AUS) bt [9/16] Jennifer Condie (AUS) 3-0: 11-7, 11-2, 11-3 (19m)
[9/16] Erin Classen (AUS)bt [WC] Shona Coxsedge (AUS) 3-0: 11-1, 11-6, 11-4 (17m)

Victorian Open Men’s RD2: Draw

[1] Rex Hedrick (AUS) v Brice Nicolas (FRA)

Dylan Molinaro (AUS)v [6] Rhys Dowling (AUS)

[7] Nicholas Calvert (AUS)v Anthony Lepper (NZL)

Joel Arscott (NZL)v [4] Temwa Chileshe (NZL)

[3] Rowan Damming (NED)v Shamil Wakeel (SRI)

Paul Gonzalez (FRA)v [5] Ravindu Laksiri (SRI)

[8] Bryan Lim Tze Kang (MAS)v Baptiste Bouin (FRA)

Laouenan Loaec (FRA)v [2] Lwamba Chileshe (NZL)

Victorian Open Women’s RD2: Draw

[1] Sarah Cardwell (AUS) v Colette Sultana (MLT)

Sze Yu Lee (AUS) v [8] Risa Sugimoto (JPN)