Haydon and White book their tickets to Cairo
Published Sun 07 Apr 2024
Top seeds Alex Haydon and Joseph White have won the 2023/24 World Championship Oceania Qualifying Event after sealing victories over Sarah Cardwell and Rhys Dowling, respectively.
South Australia’s Haydon fought back from a game down to defeat Victoria's No.2 seed Cardwell, while White overcame No.6 seed and fellow Northern Territorian Dowling in a hard-fought four-game encounter at the Carrara Squash Centre.
The pair have now gained passage to compete in the 2023-24 CIB PSA World Championships, which will be held in Cairo in May.
The women’s final saw the two top seeds enter the match full of confidence, with neither having dropped a game all week. However, that streak was soon broken for Haydon as Cardwell nicked a tight opening game 11-8.
From there, though, Haydon only moved from strength to strength as the match continued. The 22-year-old took a crucial second game 11-9, before moving into the lead for the first time in the match when sealing the third 11-3. Haydon, the World No.79, finished off a superb week by taking the fourth game 11-6 and sealing victory after 38 minutes of action.
Haydon's victory came just two weeks after Cardwell got their upper hand in their opening round match at the City Tattersall's Group Squash Australian Open in Sydney.
In the men’s final, White ended the superb run of Dowling on the Gold Coast, taking the match by an 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6 scoreline.
Dowling, who stunned No.2 seed Temwa Chileshe in the semi-finals, couldn’t replicate these heroics against World No.90 White, who stamped his authority on the match right from the get-go by taking the first, and soon doubling his advantage in two nip-and-tuck games.
Although World No.175 Dowling put up some stern resistance, bringing the match back to 2-1, it was White who eventually sealed victory in just under an hour of play, booking his spot in the line-up for the prestigious 2023/24 World Championships.
Women’s Final
[1] Alex Haydon (SA) d [2] Sarah Cardwell (VIC) 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-6)
Men’s Final
[1] Joseph White (NT) d [6] Rhys Dowling (NT) 3-1 (11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6)
