Stephen Cunningham, of Auckland, beat seventh seed Dale Styner (Canada) in the men’s second round of the Honda City sponsored New Zealand squash open, last evening.
Cunningham, who turns 21 next week, won 9-4 5-9 9-0 9-6. The Thames-born player said his game had been moulded by one of the greatest coaches, Colin Brownlee, and son Bruce Brownlee, one of the best players this country has produced. In Rotorua last week-end, Bruce Brownlee was honing Cunningham’s game in preparation for this tournament. Already, the Brownlee method of training and application of skills on court has won for Cunningham the 1985 national most improved player award. “I had to be patient tonight, and this had paid off, especially after I had seen that Styner was beatable when he played Phil Wallace (on Wednesday night),” said Cunningham.
The New Zealander, Rod Hayes, found form in taking third seed Ross Thorne of Australia, to five games. It was possibly Hayes’ best squash since he was a member of the New Zealand world championship team in 1983. Hayes took the first game, lost the next two, but fought back from 6-3 in the fourth to win it 10-8. Increasing errors in the fifth game put paid to his chances of pulling off the upset of the tournament. He lost 9-2.
The top seed, Ross Norman, advanced to the quarter finals without dropping a point to his fellow New Zealander Stephen Wren. The fifth seed Chris Robertson, of Australia beat John Mills (New Zealand) 9-3 9-3 9-4. The world champion Susan Devoy (Hamilton) beat Carolyn Viggers (Canterbury), 9-1 9-3 9-4 and will meet veteran Jenny Webster, in the quarter-finals today. Webster, the three times New Zealand champion, defeated Marie Pearson (New Zealand) 9-6 7-9 9-4 9-4.
The second seed, Lisa Opie, the third seed, Lucy Souter (England), and the fourth seed, Robyn Blackwood, each won in straight games. Results (New Zealand unless stated):-
Men: Second Round: R. Norman beat S Wren 9-0 9-0 9-0; C Robertson (Australia) beat J Mills 9-3 9-3 9-4; S. Cunningham Beat D Styner (Canada) 9-4 4-9 9-0 9-6. Women: First Round: J Webster Beat M Pearson 9-6 7-9 9-4 9-4; D Gurren beat L Hati 9-0 9-6 9-2; R Blackwood beat S Taylor 9-0 9-2 9-0; J Williams beat S Simcock 9-0 9-1 9-1; L Opie (England) beat J Marriott 9-3 9-1 9-2.
First round men’s results included: Norman Beat I Borley 9-1 9-0 9-0; S Wren beat D Kidd (Australia) 9-4 9-6 8-10 9-6; Robertson (Australia) beat L Cooper 9-5 9-7 9-4; Mi;;s beat N Barbour 9-3 9-5 3-9 9-10 9-3; A McMurtrie beat M Tapsell 5-9 9-4 9-6 2-9 9-0; M Shaw (Australia) beat R Wyatt 2-9 9-5 9-1 9-5; R Hayes beat M Smith 5-9 10-9 9-3 9-5; P Viggers beat Zaini Abidin (Singapore) 9-1 9-3 9-6; S Davenport beat A Chua (Singapore) 10-9 9-2 9-6.
