The 2017 World Masters Games is officially underway, and for the 430 participants in Auckland to compete in the squash competition the time has come to put all the training leading up to the event into action. 

The first round of matches began 8am Saturday morning, with the individual competition set to run over the next five days with finals for all age groups scheduled for either Wednesday or Thursday. 

The Men’s 35+ Open draw saw one upset in the first round with 13^th seed Allan Robinson managing to get the victory over his 4^th seeded opponent Harjinder Singh.  In all-Kiwi semi-finals to be played on Monday night, former world top 40 player and top seed Kashif Shuja will face fifth seed Adrian Mennell, while in the other semi third seed Neil Rossin will take on second seed Sam Atkins. 

The Men’s 40+ Open draw sees all top seven seeds through to the quarterfinals, all to be played on Monday afternoon at 2pm.  NZ is well represented with six of the eight quarterfinalists, spearheaded by top seed Corey Love.  They are also joined by second seed Daniel Woolbank of Australia and third seed Richard Green of England.

Men's 40+ Open Quarterfinals:
Corey Love (NZ) vs Darren Barclay (NZ)
Craig Stratford (NZ) vs Richard Green (UK)
Allan Crome (NZ) vs Brady James (NZ)
Richard Thompson (NZ) vs Daniel Woolbank (Australia)

The Men’s 45+ Open draw were the first to hit the court at 8am Saturday morning.  The strong 64 draw has surprisingly played out to its seeding so far with all the top eight seeds progressing through the first three rounds and into the quarterfinals, which will be played at 3.30pm Monday.  Australia’s Tim Bateman is the lone international left after sneaking past Michael Flood-Smith (NZ) in a five-setter.  The only other round of 16 match to get past three games featured Stephen O’Toole (NZ) just managing to overcome Bruce Smith (NZ) in five.

Men's 45+ Open Quarterfinals:
Scott Gardiner (NZ) vs Stephen O’Toole (NZ)
Robert Clark (NZ) vs Jason Oxenham (NZ)
Tristran Franklin (NZ) vs Troy Dunn (NZ)
Tim Bateman (Australia) vs Paul Bedford (NZ)

The Men’s 50+ Open draw looks to be the feature draw of the event with current 50+ world Masters champion Craig van der Wath the top seed alongside former world champion and North Shore local Gary Duberly.  As with the other draws however it has played out to seeding so far with all top eight seeds into the quarterfinals which will be played Monday 12.30pm. 

Men's 50+ Open Quarterfinals:
Craig van der Wath (SA) vs Paul Gardiner (NZ)
Gary Duberly (NZ) vs Nigel Lloyd (NZ)
Grant Craig (NZ) vs Clark Ellery (NZ)
Richard van Rynbach (NZ) vs Steven Wren (Canada)

The Men’s 55+ Open has a truly international flavour to it, with no New Zealand players featuring in among the top seven seeds.  All the top seeds have progressed to the second round of matches in the 64 draw with the quarterfinals scheduled for Monday evening at 6pm.  Tenth seed Martin McKelvie (NZ) has managed to upset seventh seed Cameron Anderson (Australia) in five to book his place in the quarterfinals against either Roger Garrett (NZ) or second seed Dale Robbins (Australia).

Men's 55+ Open Quarterfinals:
Peter Gilbee (Australia) vs Michael White (NZ)
John van Heeswijk (SA) vs Antony Brettkelly (USA)
Gary Barker (SA) vs Mark Taylor (UK)
Martin McKelvie (NZ) vs Roger Garrett (NZ) or Dale Robbins (Australia) 

The Men’s 60+ Open draw has completed one round of matches so far, will all eight top seeds managing to navigate through their first round games with success.  North Shore local Mark Waldin leads the charge as the division’s top seed, but will face plenty of stern competition along the way.  Second round matches will be played on Sunday evening with the quarterfinals scheduled for Monday afternoon from 2.30pm.

The Men’s 65+ Open draw sees all but one of the top eight seeds in the quarterfinals, with tenth seed James Leddy (NZ) managing to get the victory over seventh seed Paul Devoy (NZ).  NZ’s Hongi Laing took the top position in the draw but will have to contend with a possible final showdown against former world Masters champion Trevor Colyer (NZ). 

The Men’s 70+ Open draw had a series of play-in matches Saturday afternoon to decide which players progressed to the championship round robin draws.  The division is led by Canadian top seed Gerald Poulton who will no doubt be in the sights of Kiwis Graeme Richardson and Alex Houliston who will face each other today in a potential semi-final situation.

The Men’s 75+ Open draw sees New Zealand racket sport legend Richard Purser as top seed in the round robin event.  The first round saw Purser claim a 3/0 victory over Mike Grant (NZ) while in the other match Thomas Slattery (Australia) took a first-up win over Desmond Succo (SA).

The Men’s 80+ Open draw has unfortunately been whittled down to only two players due to the withdrawal of Australia’s Kenneth Rathgen leaving NZ’s Trevor Coulter and England’s Malcolm Gilham to face each other for the title.

Onto the Women’s draws, the 35+ Open is highlighted by the entry of former world #6 and current NZ High Performance Manager Shelley Kitchen.  Second seed Jo Shanks (NZ) had a 3/0 win first up over Tracy Browne (SA) while in the other match to be played so far Australia’s Diane Antonsen claimed a 3/0 victory over NZ’s Toni Horsman. 

The Women’s 40+ Open draw saw no upsets in the first round with all top eight seeds progressing to the quarterfinals in a draw made of completely local players. 

Women's 40+ Open Quarterfinals (played Sunday afternoon)
Suk Hee Kim (NZ) vs Kristina Henare (NZ)
Michelle Heron (NZ) vs Erin Ellery (NZ)
Trina Moore (NZ) vs Melanie Goodchild (NZ)
Sally Stantiall (NZ) vs Nadine Cull (NZ)

The big drawcard for the competition is World Masters Games ambassador and former world #1 Sarah Fitz-Gerald of Australia.  She will meet Sam Godfrey (NZ) in the quarterfinals at midday Monday after Godfrey defeated eighth seed Tracey Flux (NZ).  The only other unseeded player to make the quarters was Shari Ball (NZ) who had a 3/0 win over Claire Kluyver of the Cayman Islands.

Women's 45+ Open Quarterfinals
Sarah Fitz-Gerald (Australia) vs Sam Godfrey (NZ)
Juli Voykovic (NZ) vs Tanya Laurence (NZ)
Mandy Kennedy (NZ) vs Shari Ball (NZ)
Vivien Rundle (NZ) vs Tina Steedman (NZ) or Lisa Cowlard (NZ)

The Women’s 50+ Open rears into action on Sunday evening, and features an international lineup of top seeds including former world Masters champions Susan Hillier of Australia (top seed) and Angelique Clifton Parks of South Africa (second seed).  The top NZ hopes in the draw are Kathryn McKay (third seed) and Annie Halls (fourth seed).

The Women’s 55+ Open also has seen all top eight seeds make it through to the quarterfinals which will be played on Sunday evening. 

Women's 55+ Open Quarterfinals
Susan Lawrence (USA) vs Sarina Budge (NZ)
Christine Ewart (NZ) vs Mary Turnball (NZ)
Elizabeth Hudson (NZ) vs Kathryn Cowper (Canada)
Vicki Herdman (NZ) vs Phillippa Green (UK)

The Women’s 60+ Open has all run according to seeding so far after the first round of matches.  The quarterfinals will be played on Sunday evening to decide the semifinalists with three Trans-Tasman clashes on the cards.

Women's 60 + Open Quarterfinals
Anne Richards (Australia) vs Sharon Rochford (NZ)
Nancy Godfrey (NZ) vs Napoli Teremaki (Australia)
Sarah Wilson (Australia) vs Heather Scott (NZ)
Susan Netto (NZ) vs Freda Walker (NZ)

The Women’s 65+ Open starts on Sunday evening with Australia’s Susan Volzke, a former world Masters champion as the top seed.  The Women’s 70+ Open will be played out over a round robin, with top seed Kaye Jackson (NZ) taking a 3/0 victory in her only match so far.  Second seed Patricia Taylor (NZ) has also started convincingly with two 3/0 wins to begin her campaign. 

Entry is free for spectators all week at the North Shore Squash Club and you can view all the draws (including the Recreation draws for each age group) and follow the action as it happens at www.northshoresquash.co.nz.  The individual competition will continue through until Thursday and will be followed by the Teams competition from Thursday to Saturday.