Wildcards Fouts & Douglas Boost Home Interest In ToC R2

Event wildcards Caroline Fouts and Andrew Douglas scored big upsets on the opening day of action in the prestigious JP Morgan Tournament of Champions, the PSA World Tour Platinum event which got underway in New York City across four different venues.

With victories over French opponents, Fouts beat Melissa Alves while Dougles overcame Sebastien Bonmalais to reach the event's second round for the first time in their careers.

18-year-old Fouts is ranked 50 places below Alves in the current PSA World Rankings but produced a mature performance against the experienced world No.20 to book her place in round two.

The American found herself 2/1 down in the contest but stuck to her aggressive, attacking style to constantly ask questions of Alves and force the Frenchwoman into many difficult situations. After levelling at two-all, Fouts ran out to a 7-1 lead and didn't take long to win the deciding game 11-3 and reach the second round of a Platinum event for the first time.

"It's such a great experience," said Fouts after her win.

"Last year I had a similar opportunity but I was really grateful to get through in a solid five game match today. I think this year I've had more opportunities in bigger events and I've learned a lot from the Challenger Tour events that I've played. I think I've really grown as a player.

"I had the chance to play in a home World Championships in Chicago last year and I'm just so hungry to be in these bigger events. I'm working hard to be in them on merit and more consistently too."

Andrew Douglas is ranked 20 places below France's Sebastien Bonmalais but after securing a 2/0 lead with a close 12-10 win in game two, the American went from strength to strength at the New York Athletic Club and closed out the match 3/0 to set up a meeting with defending champion Diego Elias in round two.

Egyptian duo Malak Khafagy and Yahya Elnawasany also scored upsets on day one as they overcame European duo Tesni Murphy (formerly Evans) and Nicolas Mueller at the Nicol Club and Harvard Club to progress.