Watts Grabs Finals Position at AON New Zealand Junior Open
Pictured Above – Kaitlyn Watts (Green Racket) vs Anna Hughes (Black Racket) AON New Zealand
Junior Open Girls Semi Finals
Jamie Oakley and Scott Galloway have survived tough five setters to get into the finals of the Boys
Open whilst top seed Abbie Palmer and third seed Kaitlyn Watts have shown convincing wins to get
into the Girls Open final.
Jamie Oakley and Australian Alex Oswald were first on court for the Boys Semi-Finals. The first game
saw Oswald play some tight straight shots forcing the error from Oakley. There was a collision in the
first game seeing Oswald take an injury break, even though Oakley bought in some structured rallies
near the end to pull his way back in it was not enough with Oswald showing more consistency to
claim the first game. The second game saw a number of unforced errors by Oakley with Oswald
sticking to his strong straight game seeing Oakley trying to force shots with Oakley eventually going
down in the second game. Oswald came on looking to seal the match, however Oakley started to
show he could match a strong consistent game. Oakley worked Oswald forcing him into a number of
errors and disassembled Oswald’s structure and claimed the third game. Game four saw both
players use the front of the court well and Oswald started to regain his structure but pressure from
Oakley at 10-8 forced Oswald into the tin and sent the game to the fifth. Oakley came out firing in
the fifth and never looked back, he was too strong for Oswald putting the shots away and getting
Oswald to make the errors eventually sealing the match in a convincing fashion.
The second boy’s semi-final was between Scott Galloway and Finn Trimble. Both players took time to
settle into their game and work the other player out. There were structured rallies and with
Galloway holding the first game ball, Trimble had to fight hard, but he squeezed the errors from
Galloway and eventually Trimble claimed the first game. The second game saw Trimble use some
great deception and building some strong consistency in the rallies causing Galloway to have a
number of unforced errors and Trimble rounded out the second game. Galloway came out strong in
the third game and through some good structuring of his game he forced the errors from Trimble
and upped the consistency taking the game. Trimble struggled with Galloway’s strong structure and
he was forced out of position on a number of occasions and Galloway managed to level the scores
sending it to the fifth. Galloway ended up proving too strong for Trimble moving him around the
court, pushing him out of position and Trimble was not able to get enough great shots with Galloway
claiming the fifth game and the match to set up the final.
The first Girls Open game was between Abbie Palmer and Anika Jackson. Palmer is looking to get her
name on the Girls Open trophy for the second time and Palmer had a strong performance over
Jackson. Palmer was reading Jacksons shots and showed her experience in the game putting away
some devastatingly powerful shots. Jackson could not manage to get on the front foot and she
eventually went down in a tough three setter with Palmer claiming her spot in the final.
The second Girls Open game saw third seed Kaitlyn Watts upset the second seed Anna Hughes.
Watts played a powerful game against Hughes where there were long controlled rallies between
both players. Hughes struggled to pick up some of Watts shots and with some great turning and
placement of the ball by Watts she pushed Hughes to the limit and Hughes wasn’t able to push to
convert. Watts has claimed her place in the Girls Open final for the first time and will be looking to
test herself against the experience of Palmer.
The Girls Open Final starts at 2pm whilst the Boys Open starts at 3pm at the Whangarei Squash Club.
Round 1 News story can be found here http://nzsquash.co.nz/news/index.cfm?content_id=2353
Round 2 News story can be found here http://nzsquash.co.nz/news/index.cfm?content_id=2354
Quarter Finals story can be found here http://nzsquash.co.nz/news/index.cfm?content_id=2355
Photos from the first day of games can be found here
http://beescene.jalbum.net/New%20Zealand%20Junior%20Open%20Squash%20-%20DAY%201/#
Results can be found on the Whangarei Squash Club website here
http://www.whangareisquash.co.nz/aon-new-zealand-junior-open/
and on iSquash
Girls Open – Quarter Finals
Abbie Palmer (1) bt Anika Jackson (4) - 11/6, 11/6, 11/7
Kaitlyn Watts (3) bt Anna Hughes (2) - 11/7, 11/7, 11/4
Boys Open – Quarter Finals
Jamie Oakley (1) bt Alex Oswald (3/4) - 6/11, 4/11, 11/1, 11/8, 11/3
Scott Galloway (2) bt Finn Trimble (5/8) – 10-12, 8-11, 11-4, 11-3, 11-3
Pictured Above - Jamie Oakley (Blue) vs Alex Oswald (Green) AON New Zealand Junior Open Boys
Semi Finals