Wildcard Ollie Dunbar is still buzzing after giving the New Zealand Open a shot in the arm on the opening day with a huge upset victory in the first round.
The 18-year-old Wellingtonian played the match of his life on Tuesday night to beat Portugal’s world No 54 Rui Soares three games to one and move through to the second round.
Ranked more than 200 places below Soares at world No 257, Dunbar came out firing, winning the first game 11-6.
While he dropped the second 11-7, he bounced back to dominate the last two 11-3, 11-4, winning the match in 47 minutes.
"It was great to do that at home," he said.
"I’ve got my dad here and a few clubmates came to watch so it’s pretty cool."
Dunbar said he came into the game with no expectations.
"There was great support for me from the crowd and I just went out there and tried to keep it simple and play my game."
Dunbar faces a tough task in the second round, with his opponent being third seed and world No 12 You Ng Eain, of Malaysia.
Three other Kiwis were in action on day one, including five-time Commonwealth Games champion Joelle King, who was battling a knee niggle.
King’s restricted movement meant she was unable to rely on her trademark retrievals and Malaysian Aira Azman took full advantage, winning in straight games.
Earlier in the day, Auckland wildcard Ella Lash put up a brave fight against another Malaysian, Ainaa Amani, also falling in straight games.
Wildcard Anthony Lepper, of Auckland, suffered the same result, beaten by Spain’s Bernat Jaume.
The New Zealand Open is being contested until Sunday at Christchurch’s Isaac Theatre Royal, where a glass court has been installed on stage.
Ahead of the ODT going to press, last night’s day two play had produced another shock, with defending women’s champion and world No 10 Nele Gilis-Coll knocked out of the tournament by Scotland’s Georgia Adderley.
The world No 23 Scot went into the match without ever having taken a game off Gilis-Coll, but produced what she later called "the biggest result of my career", a 3-0 win of 11-7, 15-13, 11-8.
Gilis-Coll’s husband, New Zealand’s world No 4 Paul Coll, gets his campaign under way at 5.30pm today against Japan’s Rynosuke Tsukue. — APL
