Dussourd Downs Masotti To Advance At Grand Central

France's Auguste Dussourd overcame the challenge of higher-ranked compatriot Baptiste Masotti to advance to the second round of the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions at Grand Central Terminal in New York, winning a PSA World Tour Gold event match for the first time in his career.

This was only the second meeting on Tour between the pair, with Masotti having claimed the only win back in 2016. This clash saw the world No.21 come out strongly once again to take the first game 11-8.

The seeded Masotti went on to hold a 10-7 lead in the second game, but Dussourd, who is ranked 18 places below his fellow Frenchman, saved three game balls before going on to win it 12-10. Dussourd then fought back from 8-4 down in the third as well to move into the lead of the contest for the first time.

The fourth game followed a much similar pattern, with the world No.39 coming from behind once more, claiming the victory with a second tie-break win in the match, to defeat Masotti for the first time.

"It's the best venue I have played in my life," said Dussourd.

"I was so happy to get in [to the draw] and to get the win for the first time I am here. I will have one day to enjoy [the win] and then I'll think about the next match. I will maybe watch this match once to see what I did right and did wrong, then after that I will focus on the next match against a top player."

Elsewhere, another Frenchman in Victor Crouin made it through to the second round after getting the better of England's Nathan Lake. While Egypt's Youssef Ibrahim downed Switzerland's Dimitri Steinmann to advance to the last 16.

However, the pair will do battle for the second time in three days, as following the late withdrawal of Mostafa Asal due to a positive pre-flight COVID-19 test, the Swiss No.2 was drawn out as the 'Lucky Loser', and will take the place of the Egyptian in the last 16. He will face Youssef Ibrahim again on Wednesday evening.

One of several players in New York who competed in the European Team Championships in the Netherlands at the week, James Willstrop mastered Scotland's Greg Lobban 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 11-2 to set up a L16 clash with top-seeded Egyptian Ali Farag. The 38-year-old Englishman, who made his Grand Central debut in 2003 - three years before his nearest 2022 rival - then received a trophy from event-founder John Nimick to mark a record 18th appearance in the event.

"I've had some incredible experiences here and some of the best of my career," said the 2010 champion afterwards. "When I think of not being here each year, it's pretty upsetting to me, so I don't know how I'm going to cope. It just shows the regard in which the players hold this event, we've all flown over from Eindhoven [after the European Team Championships].

"Greg's done an amazing thing today having to fly and then play, I don't know how he's done that and he played so well, it was an incredible effort.

"The one thing with age is that you get to know a squash court better every week and every month. You start slowing down, probably, but you start to understand the strategies. I'm doing a bit of coaching now, so I'm having to think about other people for once in my life, which is an interesting situation. You know the squash court, you've been on it so many times, which helps a little bit. I love playing. It's truly an incredible venue, there's nothing like it playing here, and the atmosphere was unbelievable tonight, it's such a thrill."

In the women's event, England's Lucy Turmel secured her first ToC event victory as she battled her way past Hong Kong's Tze Lok Ho, going all the way to a deciding game at Grand Central Terminal.

The pair did battle in Boston in January, with the Englishwoman winning 3/0 on that occasion, but this time, it was far from easy. She led twice in the contest, after winning both the first and third games, but her opponent was able to level the match on both occasions. Eventually, after 71 minutes, Turmel completed the victory, and she will now face Canada's Hollie Naughton in the second round.

"I'm just really happy," said Turmel. "Matches like that are sometimes the most rewarding because I felt quite flat in several parts, I'm just happy to win.

"After I lost that fourth I just really concentrated on trying to get the ball into the back, ironically that created more lets. It was the right gameplan in the end because I could see she was tiring and it gave me the openings at the front."

After having a back problem during her practice hit in the morning, Canada's Danielle Letourneau was able to battle past Czech No.1 Anna Serme in the opening match of the day's play, with Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam and Frenchwoman Melissa Alves being the other two women to advance on day two in New York City.