Finals : White and Watts earn World Championship spots
The first of five continental World Championships Qualifying events concluded in Kooyong with victories for men’s top seed Joseph White and women’s second seed Kaitlyn Watts.
Australia’s top-ranked player White beat New Zealand’s Lwamba Chileshe in straight games, while Kiwi Watts came from a game down to beat compatriot Ella Lash.
The pair will now be included in the World Championship draw, set to take place in Cairo from 21st to 26th May.
Next up in the qualifying schedule is the Asian competition, taking place at Hong Kong Football Club from 1st to 4th April.
Oceania Asia Europe PanAmerica Africa
Semi-Finals :
The finalists of the PSA World Championships Oceania qualifying event have been decided, with Kaitlyn Watts, Ella Jane Lash, Joseph White, and Lwamba Chileshe all claiming respective wins on semi-finals day at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, Australia.
No.2 seed Watts produced a five-game comeback to book her spot in the qualifying final, rallying from 2-0 down to defeat No.3 seed Madison Lyon. Despite falling 11-8, 12-10 behind against World No.80 Lyon, Watts held her nerve to drag herself back into the contest and force a deciding game.
From there, all the momentum was with World No.78 Watts, who raced into a quick-fire 7-1 lead in the fifth game and moved through to the win after 49 minutes of play.
Watts will face fellow New Zealander Ella Jane Lash in tomorrow’s final, after the No.4 seed ended the run of No.6 seed Sophie Fadaely in four games.
Meanwhile, in the men’s event top seed Joseph White continued his quest for a second PSA World Championships appearance after ending the impressive run of unseeded David Turner in straight games. After back-to-back upset wins in the previous rounds, a third upset proved a step too far for Turner, with World No.85 White showing his experience and quality to win 11-3, 11-8, 11-4.
The other men’s semi-final saw No.5 seed Lwamba Chileshe defeat No.7 seed Freddie Jameson by a 13-11, 11-3, 13-11 scoreline. Chileshe, who scored an upset win over No.3 seed Dylan Molinaro in the previous round, carried through this form into this semi-final encounter, producing some superb squash in both the first and third game tie-breaks to book his spot in Sunday’s final.
