Cameron Seth (CAN) bt Oscar Lopez (MEX) 11-5, 11-6, 11-2
Lawrence Kuhn (RSA) bt Ahad Raza (CAN) 10-12, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5
Mario Lopez (MEX) bt Aditya Jagtap (IND) 11-7, 11-7, 7-11, 15-13
Jacob Bassil (LIB) bt Fernando Magdaleno (MEX) – walkover/no-show
Tomotaka Endo (JPN) bt Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-3
Ricardo Lopez (MEX) bt Sam Fenwick (ENG) 4-11, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8
Brock Janzer (CAN) bt Mubarak Mohsin (PAK) 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-8
Cameron Seth (CAN) bt Oscar Lopez (MEX) 11-5, 11-6, 11-2
Hugo Varela (ESP) bt Cory McCartney (CAN) 11-3,11-0,11-3
After a brief hiatus in 2017, the Hazlow Electronics Rochester ProAm is back again this year in it’s 16th edition and promises to showcase top up and coming squash talent from around the world once again.
In a strong showing last night, the local lads from the University of Rochester squash team prevailed over stiff competition from their PSA opponents last night in the opening round of qualifying . For some, the luck of the draw meant this was the toughest PSA 5+ qualifying draw they have had to play in a while with several matches going the full five games.
Former UR #1 and current assistant coach, Mario Yanez fresh from his final appearance in another PSA 5+ event Charlottetown on Sunday started hard and fast against India’s Aditya Jagtap taking a quick 2-0 game lead. Jagtap was not giving up however and came back fighting from 9-3 down in the third game to stay in the match. The fourth was a closely contested game at the start but eventually Yanez got the better of his opponent to earn a spot in the next round.
Yanez vs Jagtap
Another University of Rochester local, Tomotaka Endo faced stiff competition from fellow college squash player and Columbia freshman, Velavan Senthilkumar from India. These two had faced off in college squash twice already this year since February with Velavan prevailing in both those encounters. However, Endo seemed learned from those matches and put that experience to good use forcing errors out of Velavan in the early games. Velavan kept the pressure on nevertheless and had Endo on the ropes in the 4th game when an injury break from Vela gave Endo a much needed breather. Thereafter, there was no stopping the Japanese senior who forged ahead into the fifth forcing additional errors from his opponent to eventually take avenge his previous defeats.
In what seemed like a pattern of comebacks, Endo’s other two University of Rochester team mates, Ricardo Lopez and Lawrence Kuhn starred in their own battles both coming back from two games down against their opponents, Canadian Ahad Raza and Englishman Sam Fenwick respectively.
Tomorrow’s qualifying finals feature at least two of the four University of Rochester lads, Tomotaka Endo and Ricardo Lopez facing off against each other.
Photos by Bill Lampeter
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All eyes on the ball
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