Gavin Lee Perrett in action against Will Newnham
The first round of the qualifiers began this morning with Dan Roberts and Lekgotla Mosope overcoming University of Rochester squash team members #5 Yohay Wakabayashi and #6 Edwin Goncharuk respectively in straight sets.
Two other locals, UR#1 Hameed Ahmed and UR#4 Fred Reid squared off against each other with Hameed prevailing. In the final match of the morning, Gavin Lee Perrett fought a strong battle against local Will Newnham (UR#3) but eventually losing 3-1.
Gavin Lee Perrett vs Will Newnham
The final round of the qualifiers played out in the evening session with both UR locals, Hameed Ahmed and Will Newnham carrying through to the main draw.
Ahmed quickly went 2-0 up against Bruno Vega but Vega came back strong in the third and almost kept it going until Hameed’s racquet skills got the better of him.
Will Newnham and Maxym Leclair played out the longest match in the qualifiers, almost an hour. The first two games were neck-to-neck and could have gone either way with each going to 15-13 in favor of Newnham. In the third, Newnham surged ahead to 11-2 to take the match.
Lekgotla Mosope and Graham Bassett started off with a closely contested first game which eventually went to Mosope 12-10. It looked like Mosope had the upper hand in the second game but Bassett had an opportunity in the third at 8-4 up. Mosope consistently dug back to eventually win the match.
Finally, the #1 qualifier seed Jason Delierre beat Dan Roberts 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 to earn a spot in the main draw.
Pictures from Qualifiers Round 1 (morning session) by Paul Schwartz:
Qualifying finals:
Jason Delierre bt. Dan Roberts (11-6, 11-7, 11-7)
Lekgotla Mosope bt. Graham Bassett (12-10, 11-4, 11-8)
Will Newnham bt. Maxym Leclair (15-13, 15-13, 11-2)
Hameed Ahmed bt. Bruno Vega (11-3, 11-6, 12-10)
Qualifying Round 1:
Jason Delierre – Bye
Dan Roberts bt. Yohay Wakabayashi (11-4, 11-4, 11-5)
Graham Bassett – Bye
Lekgotla Mosope bt. Edwin Goncharuk (11-5, 11-7, 11-6)
Will Newnham bt. Gavin Lee Perrett (11-4, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6)
Maxym Leclair – Bye
Hameed Ahmed bt. Fred Reid (11-8, 11-5, 11-7)
Bruno Vega – Bye
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