Hinds Ousts Mustonen In Kent Open Upset

Wild card Joel Hinds sprung a major surprise in the opening round of the SE Leisure Kent Open when he ousted No4 seed Henrik Mustonen to reach the quarter-finals of the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 event at The Mote Squash Club in Maidstone, England

"The Finn was suffering from a heavy cold, however, which hampered his movement in a physically taxing contest," reported tournament promoter Alan Thatcher.

The 11-9, 13-11, 11-9 victory takes Hinds, from Birmingham, on to face fellow countryman James Earles, the Yorkshire qualifier who finished strongly to beat Pakistan's Khawaja Adil Maqbool 6-11, 11-4, 11-3, 6-11, 11-7.

Kent trio Ben Ford, Steven London and James Evans all crashed out of the Tour event in its fourth year in Maidstone.

Veteran Ford, 37, came close to taking the second game off No2 seed Jonathan Kemp but the effort clearly took its toll as he lost the final game 11-0.

Englishman Kemp meets Declan James, who overcame London after losing a marathon opening game 14-16.

Young qualifier Evans, roared on by a packed gallery at his home club in the county town of Kent, found the gulf in quality too much to handle as he fell to former champion Chris Ryder.

Following two straight-games victories in qualifying, the Invicta Grammar School head boy started brightly with a flurry of winners before Ryder took control in ruthless fashion.

Twice a champion at The Mote, Ryder will be hoping the crowd will be on his side as he bids to maintain his unbeaten record at the club in the quarter-finals when he faces top seed Adrian Waller.

The 6ft 3in Waller was in outstanding form in front of England's national coach Chris Robertson as he despatched fellow Londoner Reuben Phillips in just 27 minutes.

Equally impressive was another Londoner, No3 seed Joe Lee, who beat Devon's Michael Harris in straight games and now meets Frenchman Yann Perrin.

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Adrian Waller (ENG) v Chris Ryder (ENG)
[WC] Joel Hinds (ENG) v [Q] James Earles (ENG)
[3] Joe Lee (ENG) v Yann Perrin (FRA)
[2] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) v Declan James (ENG)

Picture by KIM ROBERTS