Australia’s Pit Seng Low was one of the first players on court this morning against Croatia’s Zvonimir Durkinjak, shortly followed by other men’s singles players from Oceania, Anthony Joe, Niccolo Tagle and Peter Yan. Joe was the only player to come away with a win and progress through to the second round of qualification:
- Zvonimir Durkinjak (CRO) vs Pit Seng Low (AUS) 21-12 21-13
- Anthony Joe (AUS) vs Niccolo Tagle (NZL) 21-9 21-11
- Parupalli Kashyap [2] (IND) vs Peter Yan 21-8 21-9
Anthony returned to court a couple hours later to fight for a place in the main draw, however the Australian shuttler wasn’t able to overcome his strong opposition from Malaysia:
- Soong Joo Ven (MAS) vs Anthony Joe (AUS) 21-19 21-13
“Both matches were tough with the latter being extremely difficult. I performed well in both matches with a strong offense although in some areas I lacked the anticipation and experience to keep up with more seasoned players which seemed to be my downfall in my loss. Even so, the tournament venue was very nice and the experience gained was extremely valuable.” – Anthony Joe, Australia
Australia’s Qin Jinjing, who recently celebrated a finalist appearance at the YONEX Waikato International last month, was the only Oceania player in the women’s singles qualification who secured a spot in the main draw, as talented youngsters from New Zealand, Ella Smith and Shaunna Li, struggled to overcome their opponents:
- Qin Jinjing (AUS) vs Isabelle Rusli (USA) 21-11 21-13
- Emily Beach (ENG) vs Ella Smith (NZL) 21-18 21-15
- Li Yun (CHN) vs Yingzi Jiang (AUS) 21-10 21-16
- Wei Yaxin (CHN) vs Shaunna Li (NZL) 21-5 21-7
Qin has secured her place in the main draw against compatriot and reigning regional champion, Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen from 3.20pm on Wednesday 1 May 2019.
“Today is my first HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament. It feels very good to come back and play serious matches with international players. I will try my best tomorrow” – Qin Jinjing, Australia
The qualification stages of the mixed doubles was rampant with Oceania interest, with six out of seven pairs competing for main draw spots, guaranteeing at least three pairs qualification into the main draw. All of the pairs were promoted from reserves due to last minute withdrawals – which will boost the winning pairs with world ranking points and points towards the Oceania Tour. The results from this morning’s qualifications were:
- Riga Oud/Stephanie Liao (NZL) vs Ricky Cheng/Camellia Zhou (NZL) 21-13 21-18
- Dacmen Vong/Justine Villegas (NZL) vs Carlos Luna/Ashley Tan (NZL) 21-9 21-19
- Edward Lau/Alyssa Tagle (NZL) vs Ryan Tong/Janice Jiang (NZL) 21-13 21-11
“It was a good match. First game of the tournament is always a bit nerve-wrecking, but I thought Justine and I played well and feel good going into the main draw.” – Dacmen Vong, New Zealand
The most notable results from this morning’s international talent came from India’s first two seeds in the men’s singles qualification: Ajay Jayaram (first seed) and Parupalli Kashyap (second seed). Both players are ranked within the world’s top fifty, but neither managed to break into the main draw after losing their opening matches:
- Lakshya Sen (IND) vs Ajay Jayaram (IND) [1] 21-18 21-13 (first round of qualification)
- Sun Feixiang (CHN) vs Parupalli Kashyap (IND) [2] 21-16 21-18 (second round of qualification)
The main draw kicks off with the mixed doubles from 2pm on Tuesday 30 April with the rest of the competition kicking into full swing from Wednesday 1 May onwards.
Keep track of the draw and results on Tournament Software.
