Seeds Safely Through In Amsterdam

All the seeds progressed to the quarter-finals of the Forexx Dutch Open on day one of main draw action at the Frans Otten Stadion in Amsterdam. But it wasn't plain sailing for all of them - with England's Laura Lengthorn-Massaro, the sixth seed in the women's event, needing the full five games to quell Hong Kong's Rebecca Chiu, and Jesse Engelbrecht, the men's eighth seed from South Africa, taking it into extra points in his decider against Canadian Robin Clarke.

There was plenty of success for the hosts on the opening day of mainland Europe's biggest squash tournament, with Laurens Jan Anjema, Vanessa Atkinson and Natalie Grinham winning comfortably, and Dylan Bennett putting the Amsterdam faithful through the usual agony before winning through to a quarter-final berth against Australian Cameron Pilley.

Anjema, second seed in the men's $30,000 PSA Tour event, will face the experienced Italian Davide Bianchetti for a place in the last four, while Atkinson and Grinham face each other in an all-Dutch battle in the women's $53,500 WISPA World Tour Gold championship - something that former Australian Natalie Grinham is looking forward to:

"I train on this court so I know it well, and I've been training and playing really well lately so I felt good out there tonight," said the Queensland-born world No2 who switched allegiance to the Netherlands seven months ago. "I know I can get a lot back so I can afford to play a lot short, like I was tonight - I enjoy playing that way. Vanessa and I have had a few battles over the years, and if she plays well she's very dangerous, so hopefully I'll play well and it will be another good battle," said the second seed.

The final matches of the day saw women's top seed Nicol David start the defence of her title with a four-game win over France's Isabelle Stoehr, and former Amsterdam favourite John White, the US-based former world number one from Scotland, live up to his reputation as an entertaining hard-hitter as he and wildcard Piedro Schweertman gave the packed crowd an entertaining nightcap.

After being elevated to top seed in the men's event following the last-minute withdrawal of English compatriot James Willstrop with an ankle injury, Nick Matthew comfortably beat fellow Yorkshireman Shaun le Roux, a qualifier, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4. The 28-year-old former British Open champion from Sheffield is competing in his first Tour event of the year after undergoing shoulder surgery in January.

"I was actually a bit nervous before going on, trying to remember the process I go through before the match. Once I got the first couple of points out of the way though I started to feel more comfortable again. You can play all the training matches in the world, it's just not the same a playing in a tournament," Matthew explained to the tournament website www.dutchopensquash.nl

"Physically I've worked hard for three months, but now I'm back the more matches I play the better I'll get and let's hope that takes me somewhere. I've missed it - it's what I do and if you can't do what you do best it doesn't feel right. All the people who have worked with me over the last eight months will be pleased to see me back in action I'm sure, if only to get rid of me for a while!

"Now I can smile and relax a little and enjoy the rest of the tournament."

The event also marked the European Tour debut of Miguel Angel Rodriguez, the 22-year-old from Bogotá who this week became the first Colombian to earn a world top twenty ranking. Seeded five, Rodriguez needed 77 minutes to overcome Netherlands-based Australian qualifier Bradley Hindle 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9 and will now face John White for a place in the semi-finals.

Women's 1st round:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5 (38m)
[6] Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) bt Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 14-16, 11-7 (67m)
[4] Natalie Grainger (USA) bt Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-6, 11-5, 4-11, 11-8 (32m)
[5] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [Q] Aisling Blake (IRL) 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (33m)
[8] Alison Waters (ENG) bt Kasey Brown (AUS) 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 (50m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt [Q] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 (30m)
[7] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [Q] Line Hansen (DEN) 11-7, 11-2, 11-8 (28m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [Q] Lauren Briggs (ENG) 11-2, 11-3, 11-4 (22m)

Men's 1st round:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [Q] Shaun le Roux (ENG) 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 (31m)
[8] Jesse Engelbrecht (RSA) bt [Q] Robin Clarke (CAN) 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 3-11, 13-11 (63m)
[4] John White (SCO) bt Piedro Schweertman (NED) 12-10, 11-5, 13-11 (32m)
[5] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt [Q] Bradley Hindle (AUS) 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9 (78m)
[7] Dylan Bennett (NED) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 10-12, 15-13, 11-7, 12-10 (77m)
[3] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 11-3, 11-5, 11-7 (31m)
[6] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt [Q] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 (55m)
[2] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Jonathan Harford (ENG) 11-5, 11-8, 11-1 (36m)