North Coast Open : Idrakie and Khanna claim the titles

Malaysia’s Addeen Idrakie won the Costa North Coast Open 2023 with an impressive performance against Velavan Senthilkumar of India.

Idrakie started confidently keeping Senthlikumar to the corners to take the opening game. The second game had Idrakie pulling out all stops to close down Senthilkumar with brilliant shots in his short game taking an early lead and hold the game to go 2-0.

The third game saw Senthilkumar lift looking for ways to break Idrakie’s placements but to no avail with Idrakies speed and court coverage proving a winning formula to take the game and title for 2023.

Idrakie was elated to win the Costa North Coast Open as this was his third appearance having won in and runner up in 2022. Idrakie stated. “Happy to win in the final in 3 today. Glad the way I managed to keep discipline on my game plan.”

India’s Tanvi Khanna  is the new Costa North Coast Open Women’s Champion for 2023 defeating Malaysia’s Chan Yiwen in four games.

Chan started strongly and appeared to have the better of exchanges to take the opening game. In the second and third games Khanna started to lengthen the rallies and created more chances from both sides of the court to take games into a tie break which she was able to convert and go 2-1 up.

In the fourth game Khanna had gained plenty of confidence and was prepared to go for her shots better with Chan making more errors for Khanna to take the game and match for the title.

After the match Khanna who defeated the #2 seed to make the final stated  “It’s my first PSA title and I’ve had some of the biggest wins I’ve had here so far, so really happy.”

Quarters :

The Women’s Quarter Finals produced the first upset with second eed Joshna Chinappa losing in five to fellow Indian Tanvi Khanna . Chinappa appeared unsettled early and struggled to gain any consistency with Khanna taking the fight up to her higher ranked opponent.

Khanna took the opening two games and after several questionable calls against each other Khanna was ahead 2 games to nil. Chinappa opened strongly in the third and appeared to have gained her composure working the ball to all corners closing out the third and fourth games for a deciding fifth game. At 5-5 Khanna gained two easy winners with Chinappa unable to close the gap for Khanna to take the match in five thrilling games.

Khanna was delighted after her match and stated, “I started really well and had a 2-0 lead Had a bit of a focus drop off in the third and the fourth., but I’m very happy with the way I was able to come back in the 5^th and win”.  

Khanna now meets Alex Hayden, who won an all-Australian five-setter against Sarah Cardwell, while top seed Jess Turnbull takes on Malaysian third seed Chan Yiwen.

The first of the men’s  Quarter Finals set the scene for some fantastic contests not seen before in Coffs Harbour. Top seed Addeen Idrakie needed to withstand the sharp attack of Chung Yas Long (HGK) to take the first game in a thrilling tie break. Long showed plenty of determination in the second and again extended his game with a second tie break but found the experience of Idrakie on show with well-placed short balls as he closed out the second to gain two games to nil lead.

Idrakie kept the intensity high working the ball to all corners keeping Long on the defensive and unable to break Idrakies pattern taking the third in quick time for a spot in the semi-finals.

Idrakie stated after the match “ happy to win my match with Leo in 3 today. Hope I can do better in my next match tomorrow.”

In other matches 3/4 seed Velavan Senthilkumar continued his impressive form with straight games win against Alasdair Prott  to advance to the semi-finals where he will meet Ivan Yuen for a spot in Sunday’s finals.  Yeun needed to work hard to withstand the challenge from his younger countryman Ong Sai Hung.

Day TWO :

Round Two of the Men’s Open saw all the seeds advance to the Quarter Finals with Chung Yat Long (HGK) causing the only blemish by defeating (5/8) Rhys Dowling (AUS).

In the opening match, Ong Sai Hung (MAS) and Dylan Molinaro (AUS) pleasing the crowd with a great array of shots and court coverage of high quality. With Ong Sai Hung taking the first game in a tense tie break and a similar score in the second Molinaro rallied superbly to claw back the third game. In the fourth game Ong Sai Hung kept the intensity high working Molinaro to the front court repeatedly and the effort of the third and fourth games proving too much for Molinaro with Ong Sai Hung closing out the match in 4 games to move into the quarter final stage tomorrow.

Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) and Elijah Thomas (NZL) used every part of the court in a see sawing battle with Senthilkumar appearing well on top in the opening game 11-4 before Thomas settled and found better consistency in the second to level scores 1-1. The third game went to Senthilkumar in a tie break with Thomas missing two winning chances. In the fourth game Senthilkumar opened strongly to get a lead which he held at 10-7 before Thomas produced a late charge to close in on another tie break at 9-10 but errored to see Senthilkumar take the game and match in 61 minutes for a place in the quarter finals.

Afterwards Senthilkumar stated “ the match was great, Elijah is a solid player with a great basic game, I’m glad I could pull through”.

The match between Joseph White (AUS) and Suraj Kumar Chand (IND) saw White come from two games to one down to emerge winner in a little over an hour. Both players seized on any loose ball looking to gain the slightest advantage. White played some great volleys when needed to get back into the match and close out the fourth and fifth games.

White stated after his match “ tough match tonight against Suraj, Played a good first game but struggled to keep momentum in the next two games . fourth hard to get back into the match and get the match in 5. Looking forward to tomorrow”

Day ONE :

The eagerly awaited Costa North Coast Open got underway tonight but only after a stressful day with the region surrounding the squash centre having a major emergency power outage. Preparations were delayed but with a number of volunteers we managed to keep to schedule, with matches starting on time.

The opening matches between David Turner and Nicholas Calvert both of Australia produced the first upset with Turner staying stronger throughout the match and Calvert unable to settle Into any consistent rhythm. Turner took the ball in short, setting up with tight placements with Calvert’s physicality unable to counter Turner’s attack.

After the match David commented “very happy with my performance, executed my game plan and stood up when I needed to. Happy to see the hard work paying off, onto the next!”

Bryan Lim (MAS) and Jeongmin Ryu (KOR) produced a tight four games with Lim hanging on to close out the match in four tough games. After the match Bryan stated “ started week, lost a bit  of Momentum in the 3rd and got it back though in the 4th. Happy with how I played but would need to be better in my next match.”

Suraj Chand (IND) proved too strong for Sven Settler (SUI) with an impressive performance and great court coverage. Afterwards a delighted Chand stated “I had a good match and happy with my win. I felt really good, playing at these courts, was able to put my tactics in the game on! Looking forward to tomorrows match.”

The match between Benjamin Ratcliffe and Dylan Molinaro Australia saw Molinaro continue his run of good form in recent event with a solid 3-0 win to move into the round of 16 where he will be joined by

James Lloyd (AUS) who put in a Stirling effort to defeat Oscar Curtis (AUS) in the longest match (63m) winning in five games. Molinaro stated “ Happy with my 3-0 performance tonight. Thought I played well throughout the whole match. I did the basics well and kept the game plan simple. Looking forward to my match tomorrow should be another tough one”.