Junior Champion Mueller Shines On Senior Stage At Home

Nicolas Mueller, who became Switzerland's first winner of the European Junior U19 Championship earlier in the month, showed off his skills on the senior stage on home soil when he upset Italy's No8 seed Luca Mastrostefano in the first round of the Losone Swiss Classic.

The 17-year-old from Hirzel, near Zurich, fought back from a game down to beat Mastrostefano 4-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 to reach the quarter-finals of the PSA Tour event in its third year at the Squash Center in Losone, Switzerland.

Mueller will now face Eric Galvez, the top-seeded Mexican who despatched France's Yann Perrin 11-3, 11-4, 11-9.

Another surprise winner was German qualifier Patrick Gaessler. Up 10-4 in the first game against India's third seed Ritwik Bhattacharya, the 22-year-old from Stuttgart found himself in the quarter-finals when the world No46 from New Delhi was forced to retire with a knee injury.

Gaessler will meet fifth seed Julian Illingworth, the US National Champion who overcame Irish qualifier Arthur Gaskin in four hard-fought games.

1st round:
[1] Eric Galvez (MEX) bt Yann Perrin (FRA) 11-3, 11-4, 11-9 (45m)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [8] Luca Mastrostefano (ITA) 4-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (31m)
[Q] Patrick Gaessler (GER) bt [3] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 10-4 ret.
[5] Julian Illingworth (USA) bt [Q] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) 11-2, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7 (53m)
[7] Badr Abdel Aziz (SWE) bt [Q] David Barnett (ENG) 10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (52m)
[4] Scott Handley (ENG) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 11-6, 10-11 (0-2), 11-3, 11-4 (40m)
Tony James (AUS) bt [6] Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-6, 11-8, 1-11, 3-11, 11-7 (49m)
[2] Rafael F Alarcon (BRA) bt [Q] Friedrich Scheel (GER) 11-4, 11-5, 11-6 (24m)