Day ONE : Coline and Courtice upset the seedings

The inaugural Manchester PSA Silver, featuring seven of the world’s top ten female players, kicked off at noon today at the National Squash Centre.

Day ONE sees eight first round matches as players aim to win through to Round Two where the top eight seeds are waiting.

You can WATCH LIVE on SquashTV / EuroSport Player, follow the Live Scores and Twitter Updates, check out photos in the Gallery, and we’ll have match briefs here on Today with a roundup to follow.

DRAWS & RESULTS TWITTER FEED LIVE SCORES PHOTO GALLERY

Day ONE, Thu 9th May, Round ONE

Emily Whitlock (Eng) 3-0 Amanda Landers-Murphy (Nzl)             11-7, 11-8, 11-4 (26m)
Nicol David (Mas) 3-0 Haley Mendez (Usa)                                      11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (23m)
Salma Hany (Egy) 3-2 Hollie Naughton (Can)               9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-4 (48m)
Nele Gilis (Bel)  3-0 Lisa Aitken (Sco)                                                11-5, 11-8, 11-4 (38m)
Julianne Courtice (Eng)  3-1 Sam Cornett (Can)                  12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9 (44m)
Milou vd Heijden (Ned) 3-0 Rachael Chadwick (Eng)                      11-7, 11-5, 11-2 (27m)
Coline Aumard (Fra) 3-0 Mayar Hany (Egy)                                      11-6, 11-8, 11-7 (34m)
Millie Tomlinson (Eng) 3-2 Danielle Letourneau (Can) 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4 (51m)

DRAWS & RESULTS TWITTER FEED LIVE SCORES PHOTO GALLERY

Day One Brief : Courtice & Coline upset the seedings

The inaugural Manchester Open is under way, and session one saw Emily Whitlock, Nicol David, Salma Hany and Nele Gilis advance to round two.

Whitlock was always ahead against Amanda Landers-Murphy, the Kiwi’s challenge fading in the third while David, making her final appearance in Manchester, was always in the ascendancy against Haley Mendez.

Hany came through a five game battle with Hollie Naughton but won the decider comfortably enough, while Gilis repeated her Birmingham ETC Bronze match win against Lisa Aitken, although the Scot certainly came closer today despite not taking a game.

In the evening session there were two more home wins – both against Canadians – as Julianne Courtice overcame Sam Cornett in four games and Millie Tomlinson held off a comeback from Danielle Letourneau to win in five. Milou van der Heijden was two up against Rachael Chadwick when the Englishwoman was hampered by an injury. The the biggest upset of the day came as Coline Aumard, part of France’s ETC winning team at the weekend, surged past Mayar Hany in straight games.

What they said :

Millie Tomlinson : “I think I was really pumped up for the first two games. I came out really fast. I let her back in but I am glad that I managed to refocus for the last game. I was really nervous so I just stopped trying to play short and I went back to my old game of whacking it to the back and just running.

“Obviously, I have a huge advantage as this is my home court. I lived here for a couple of years so I played on this court for a couple of years, and obviously, the home crowd help as well, It is great!”

Coline Aumard : “I guess when I got the stroke against me in the third I thought “no”, I just needed to focus again and find the solution for not being in this situation again and focus on what Tinne told me.

“If you look at the pictures then you can see how much winning the European Teams meant to us and especially for me and Camille, we have been in that French team for so long and been disappointed so many times, so to write history was massive and I think we can be proud of what we did because we respect England and they are an amazing team.

“I’m glad I got to play Laura last week because she’s stopping soon, which is sad, but I enjoyed that match and I wish her all the best for the future.”

Milou van der Heijden : “I’m very happy with how it worked out and how everything went to plan. I felt fresh out there today, a couple days rest was needed after European Teams. I felt good at Europeans, so you want to keep that momentum going and get playing again so I was pleased to be playing today.

“I’ve only played here twice before, but never on the glass, so it was a good experience to get on the glass and this one is different to others that I have played on. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is a nice court and I enjoyed it.”

Julianne Courtice : “It was a massive win! Sam won 3-1 when we played earlier this year, so I knew I was up against it and it’s always difficult with a late draw change, so I was prepared for Olivia [Blatchford Clyne] and then came onto Sam and I knew it would be a tough one.

“It’s so good to play in front of a home crowd, there are some people here from the Northern Juniors to support me, my parents and friends are here as well so it’s great.

“It’s a good day at the office today.”

Emily Whitlock : “I played well. It was pretty dead on here today, so if I didn’t take my shots in first then she was going to and I would be on the backend of rallies, so I had to take the initiative and be positive.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s match and it’s so nice to have a tournament close to home. I’m in North Wales in Colwyn Bay and so it’s really nice to see some friendly faces and have local support from back home.”

Nicol David :  “It’s great to play Haley in Manchester on the glass court – we go way back as I stayed at her house during a tournament at Brooklyn Heights. I’ve seen her since she was like 10/11 years-old, so coming here and playing her is a treat and I’m so pleased to see how she is playing and she made me work hard for my money.

“Coming back to Manchester, I have so many fond memories after playing the Commonwealth Games here in 2002 and playing so many tournaments – the British and the Worlds all here, so great memories.

Salma Hany :  Hollie has been playing really well and has been pushing all the top players. Today, she really made me work hard. It was a bit scrappy in the middle, after the fourth I just made sure I stuck to my plan and focused on every point. The good start in the fifth helped me a lot and I’m really glad I got the win.

“Alison [Waters] and I have had hard battles in the past but we haven’t really played in a while, but I’m really looking forward to it. I love this court and so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Nele Gilis : “I don’t think I had ever played Lisa before and then we played twice in the last week!

“Today, I knew what to expect and I tried to take the pace off as much as I could because she likes to hit it hard and if I go into a battle with her then I knew I wouldn’t get on top. It’s hard to stay focused against such a good player like Lisa and I’m happy that I stuck to my game plan.”

Mini-Gallery : all and lots more in the main gallery …