Beddoes Bests Sandhu at Southern Open

#PSAWorldTour

Lance Beddoes came up with a performance that belied his unseeded ranking to shock Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu in the opening round of the Invercargill Licensing Trust NZ Southern Open, PSA Challenger 15 event.

The New Zealander starred on home-soil, battling back from 5-1 down in the opening game to win before fourth seed Sandhu pegged him back in the second. The two traded heavy blows in the third and fourth with both winning a game each before Beddoes gained control of the encounter to see out an 11-9, 6-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-8 victory.

“I’m stoked to be through to the quarter-finals in what is one of my favourite tournaments of the year and I’m really happy to have had one of my best wins so far,” said Beddoes.

“I’m looking forward to my match tomorrow. I just want to say thanks to my awesome coach Paul Coll.”

The World No.97 goes up against tile-holder Martin Knight tomorrow after he made a good start to defend his crown, coming back from 2-1 down to see off Chris van der Salm.

Beddoes’ coach Coll joins his young charge in the quarter-final after he dispatched qualifier Evan Williams to set up a clash with top seed Campbell Grayson who benefited from Matthew Hopkin’s retirement in their first round tie.

Raphael Kandra defeated Wildcard Ben Grindrod and will meet James Huang in the next round while Tsz Fung Yip and Matias Tuomi will do battle in the quarter-final after they beat Christopher Binnie and Kashuf Shuja respectively.

Result – First Round: Invercargill Licensing Trust NZ Southern Open 2015
[LL] Matias Tuomi (FIN) bt [Q] Kashif Shuja (NZL) 3-1: 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 4-0 ret.
[6] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) bt [Q] Christopher Binnie (JAM) 3-0: 12-10, 11-3, 11-6 (27m)
Lance Beddoes (NZL) bt [4] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) 3-2: 11-9, 6-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-8 (70m)
[3] Martin Knight (NZL) bt [Q] Chris van der Salm (NZL) 3-2: 11-6, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 (70m)
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [WC] Ben Grindrod (NZL) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 (26m)
[7] James Huang (TPE) bt Matthew Serediak (CAN) 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 11-6 (23m)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [Q] Evan Williams (NZL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 (35m)
[1] Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt Matthew Hopkin (AUS) 3-0: 11-9, 12-10, 1-0 ret.

Draw – Quarter-Final
[LL] Matias Tuomi (FIN) v [6] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG)
[3] Martin Knight (NZL) v Lance Beddoes (NZL)
[2] Raphael Kandra (GER) v [7] James Huang (NZL)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) v [1] Campbell Grayson (NZL)