Bay Area Representation in Qualifying Field for This Week’s NetSuite Open by Blake Rhodes September 22, 2014 SAN FRANCISCO
— The 16-player qualifying field for this week’s NetSuite Open will
have a local flavor with Gabriel Morgan, Charlie Johnson and Gareth
Webber all representing the San Francisco Bay Area, Event Engine, Inc.
and the Professional Squash Association announced jointly. The
two-round competition, that takes place Wednesday and Thursday at the
Bay, Olympic and University Clubs, will produce the four qualifiers who
will advance to the first round of the PSA International 70 NetSuite
Open on Friday.
“Squash is continuing to grow in the
Bay Area and we’re excited to have local squash luminaries such as
Gabriel (Morgan), Charlie (Johnson) and Gareth (Webber) compete in the
NetSuite Open,” said John Nimick, a U.S. Squash Hall of Famer and
President of Event Engine, Inc., the tournament producer. Morgan,
a 16-year-old Menlo Park native, is the third-ranked U17 player in the
U.S. and is currently ranked 343rd on the PSA World Tour. At the age of
14, the Menlo School product became the first junior player from
California to be named National Champion. Morgan fell to Gareth Webber
in the pre-qualifying round of the NetSuite Open in 2013. He will face
Australia’s Steven Finitis at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Olympic Club.
Johnson,
who hails from England and is the pro at the Bay Club San Francisco, is
ranked 251st on the PSA Tour. He defeated his pupil Morgan to
claim the PSA Closed Satellite event of the Tatleaux de Pera Solar
Group challenger series at his home club on August 25. Johnson will
play Finland’s Henrik Mustonen at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday on his home
court.
Webber, the director of squash at the Los Gatos
Squash Club, squares off with Matthew Karwalski of Australia at 5:45
p.m. on Tuesday at the Bay Club. The former Wales national team member
has coached Morgan and England’s Chris Simpson, who is the 10th seed in
this week’s tournament.
Below is a listing of Wednesday’s qualifying matches by location with the seeding for the qualifying rounds:
Bay Club
· 5:00 pm.: No. 5 Cesar Salazar (Mexico) vs. Italo Bonatti (Guatemala)
· 5:45 p.m.: No. 8 Matthew Karwalski (Australia) vs. Gareth Webber (Wales)
· 6:30 p.m.: No. 1 Olli Tuominen (Finland) vs. Faisal Riaz (Pakistan)
· 7:15 p.m.: No. 3 Henrik Mustonen (Finland) vs. Charlie Johnson (England)
Olympic Club
· 4:00 p.m.: No. 4 Campbell Grayson (New Zealand) vs. Shahier Razik (Canada)
· 5:00 p.m.: No. 6. Steven Finitis (Australia) vs. Gabriel Morgan (U.S.A)
· 5:00 p.m.: No.2 Alan Clyne (Scotland) vs. Muhd Asyraf Azan (Malaysia)
· 6:00 p.m.: No. 7 Chris Gordon (U.S.A.) vs. Cody Cortes (U.S.A.)
The
winners will play on Thursday at the Bay Club and University for the
right to qualify to the first round of the NetSuite Open that take
place on Friday.
