Seeds Prevail In Qualifying Openers At NetSuite Open In San Francisco

The NetSuite Open Squash Championships got underway with all the seeded players prevailing in their opening matches in the qualifying draws played at the Olympic Club and Bay Club in San Francisco.

Although top women's seed Coline Aumard of France dropped the first game to Brazil's Thaisa Serafini, the Frenchwoman rebounded to win the next three games decisively. The 26-year-old will play England's Fiona Moverley who dispatched Belgian Nele Gillis in three games. Fourth seed Nouran El Torky of Egypt and Maria Toorpakai Wazir of Pakistan will play for a spot in the main draw after easily defeating their local opponents, Jesse Pacheco and Tara Arya, respectively.

Veteran USA player Latasha Khan, the indefatigable 42-year-old from Seattle who is competing in her 13th Tour event of 2015, eliminated fellow American Madeleine Gill and will face off against second seed Amanda Landers-Murphy of New Zealand - who defeated local player Mariam Kamal.

Another local player, Toby Eyre, lost to third seed Aisling Blake. The Irishwoman will next face England's Millie Tomlinson who ousted Canada's Hollie Naughton in three games.

A mix of veteran players and rising stars won their matches in the men's draw. Botswana's world No.23 Alister Walker needed four games to dispatch Mexico's Alfredo Avila and will next take on Australia's Ryan Cuskelly who defeated American Chris Hanson in straight games.

It took four games with two injury timeouts for Egypt's Ali Farag to defeat Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi of Qatar. The Harvard graduate and two-time US National Intercollegiate champion will next face France's Gregoire Marche who claimed three closely-contested games with Finland's Henrik Mustonen.

Nine-time US national champion Julian Illingworth was defeated by Mexico's Cesar Salazar, whose next opponent will be Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema. The former top ten player, who is returning to the PSA Tour after an injury hiatus, eliminated Germany's Raphael Kandra in three games.

World No.24 Tom Richards dispatched the Bay Club pro and fellow Englishman Charlie Johnson to set up a main draw determining match with Scotsman Alan Clyne after he defeated local player Gabriel Morgan.