Harris Defeats Davies in Jersey Classic First Round

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World No.200 Michael Harris avenged his semi-final defeat to fellow Englishman Ashley Davies in last year’s Jersey Squash Classic to reach the quarter-final of the 2016 instalment of the PSA M5 tournament.

Davies recovered from a slow start to narrowly lose out in the first game, then failed to convert a game ball in the second to hand Harris a two-game advantage. A composed display from Harris in the third saw him gradually pull away, and he closed out the win with an 11-8, 12-10, 11-6 margin of victory to reach his fourth PSA World Tour quarter-final in a row.

“When I saw the draw, I thought about the opportunity for revenge from last year,” admitted Harris.

“I think I dealt with the bouncy conditions better than Ash today. It’s hard to get a rhythm when it’s like that, but I’m delighted to finish that off in three.”

Harris is set to take on compatriot Sam Ellis in the last eight after Ellis came back from a game down to beat fifth seed Tristan Eysele.

Top seed Matthew Hopkin kicked off his tournament with a 3-1 victory over qualifier Connor Sheen. Sheen took a shock one-game lead but soon found himself pegged back by his Australian opponent, who will go up against Italy’s Yuri Farneti for a place in the semi-final. Farneti found himself 2-0 down against Bermuda’s Micah Franklin but rallied brilliantly to storm back and take the win.

Portugal’s Rui Soares flirted with elimination during his fixture with James Peach, and required five games to finally shrug off the attentions of the tenacious Englishman. Peach’s countryman, Nick Mulvey, lies in wait for Soares in the last eight after he beat Oliviero Ventrice.

World Junior Championship runner-up Youssef Soliman and Ondrej Uherka will make up the other quarter-final round match after they managed wins over wildcard Matthew Sidaway and Robert Dadds, respectively.

Results – First Round: Jersey Squash Classic 2016
[1] Matthew Hopkin (AUS) bt [Q] Connor Sheen (ENG) 3-1: 7-11, 11-5, 11-0, 11-1 (30m)
Yuri Farneti (ITA) bt [6] Micah Franklin (BER) 3-2: 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 (80m)
[8] Ondrej Uherka (CZE) bt Robert Dadds (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 (33m)
[4] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt [WC] Matthew Sidaway (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 14-12, 11-3 (41m)
[3] Rui Soares (POR) bt [Q] James Peach (ENG) 3-2: 11-5, 11-8, 13-15, 3-11, 11-8 (53m)
[7] Nick Mulvey (ENG) bt [Q] Oliviero Ventrice (ITA) 3-1: 12-10, 13-11, 7-11, 11-5 (42m)
[Q] Sam Ellis (ENG) bt [5] Tristan Eysele (RSA) 3-1: 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8 (63m)
Michael Harris (ENG) bt [2] Ashley Davies (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 12-10, 11-6 (38m)

Draw – Quarter-Final
[1] Matthew Hopkin (AUS) v Yuri Farneti (ITA)
[8] Ondrej Uherka (CZE) v [4] Youssef Soliman (EGY)
[3] Rui Soares (POR) v [7] Nick Mulvey (ENG)
[Q] Sam Ellis (ENG) v Michael Harris (ENG)