Great Day For Knight In Whakatane

New Zealand's Martin Knight has caused a major upset in today's opening round of the Asset Finance and Easy Loans Bay of Plenty Open in Whakatane, New Zealand.

Knight knocked Australian top seed Timothy Manning out of the PSA Tour event with a thrilling victory in five games. The unseeded kiwi took the first two games before Manning fought back to claim the next two to force the match into a fifth game decider.

The Australian favourite then looked set to take out the match at 7-3 up, before Knight reclaimed the dominance to close out the match 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9 after 88 minutes.

Fellow kiwi Campbell Grayson also made it through to the quarter-finals after a surprise win over third-seeded Wai Hang Wong from Hong Kong. Grayson cruised to an 11-6 11-6 11-3 victory in just 27 minutes.

1st round:
Martin Knight (NZL) bt [1] Timothy Manning (AUS) 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9 (88m)
[6] Jason Mudge (AUS) bt [Q] Joshua Greenfield (NZL) 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 (42m)
Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt [3] Wai Hang Wong (HKG) 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 (27m)
[5] Simon Carruthers (AUS) bt Dick Lau (HKG) 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 (31m)
[8] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt [Q] Sam Atkins (NZL) 11-3, 11-5, 5-11, 11-5 (34m)
[4] Kashif Shuja (NZL) bt [Q] Graeme Wilson (NZL) 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 (23m)
[7] Steve Finitsis (AUS) bt [Q] Yasunori Ishiwata (JPN) 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 (40m)
[2] Cameron White (AUS) bt Scott Arnold (AUS) 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-10 (2-0) (68m)