Squash: Kitchen only bright spot for kiwis

New Zealand squash players had a mixed opening round in the Hong Kong Open squash championships last night.

New Zealand No 1 Shelley Kitchen cruised into the second round, the world No 13 accounting for Malaysia's Sharon Wee 9-6 9-1 9-1 in just 22 minutes.

However, Jaclyn Hawkes and Louise Crome bowed out. Hawkes lost to fourth seeded Australian Natalie Grinham in straight sets and Crome fell to Annelize Naude of the Netherlands by the same margin.

Kashif Shuja missed out on the main draw in the men's event, losing 11-10 (3-1) 11-8 11-10 (3-1) in the final round of qualifying to Frenchman Renan Lavigne, while fellow New Zealander Josh Greenfield was bundled out in the previous round.

- NZPA