Favourites Cruise Through In Rotterdam by Howard Harding 30 August 2013
- Dutch favourite Laurens Jan Anjema led the top four seeds safely
through to the quarter-finals of the Double AR Rotterdam Open after a
straight games win over English qualifier Declan James in the opening
round of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Victoria
Squash in the Netherlands city of Rotterdam.
Anjema, the Dutch
number one, took 42 minutes to see off in-form James, the 20-year-old
from Nottingham who arrived in Rotterdam fresh from his maiden Tour
title success in his home town at the weekend.
The 30-year old top
seed from The Hague dominated play from start to finish and never
looked in danger of losing in front of a near-capacity audience on the
show court of the renowned Victoria sporting club.
Adrian Grant, the No2
seed from England, survived three game-balls in the opening game
against Czech number one Jan Koukal before taking control of the match.
European champion Olli
Tuominen needed two narrow tie-break wins to break the spirit of South
Africa's Clinton Leeuw - whilst Mathieu Castagnet, the fourth seed from
France, just got the better of Denmark's Kristian Frost Olesen in an
83-minute match to finish off the first round main draw action.
Other first round
winners at the new PSA Challenger 15 championship in the Dutch city of
Rotterdam were Raphael Kandra, Lucas Serme, Steven Finitsis and Jens
Schoor.
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 Double AR Rotterdam Open, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1st round: [1] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt [Q] Declan James (ENG) 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 (42m) Raphael Kandra (GER) bt [Q] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) 11-1, 11-6, 11-5 (24m) Lucas Serme (FRA) bt [WC] Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) 11-9, 11-3, 11-9 (50m) [4] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) 12-10, 11-8, 11-7 (83m) [3] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [Q] Clinton Leeuw (RSA) 13-11, 13-11, 11-5 (43m) Jens Schoor (GER) bt Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 11-9, 11-9, 11-3 (39m) Steven Finitsis (AUS) bt [Q] Nathan Lake (ENG) 11-8, 11-2, 11-4 (32m) [2] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Jan Koukal (CZE) 12-10, 11-6, 11-9 (50m)
Quarter-final line-up: [1] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v Raphael Kandra (GER) [4] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v Lucas Serme (FRA) [3] Olli Tuominen (FIN) v Jens Schoor (GER) [2] Adrian Grant (ENG) v Steven Finitsis (AUS)
