Wales Number One Tesni Evans Into Last Eight At Nationals

Cardiff-born Tesni Evans, who lives in Rhyl and plays out of the Prestatyn club, has qualified for the women’s quarter-finals at the National Squash Championships in Manchester.

Tesni powered to an 11-5, 11-2, 11-2 win against Alison Thompson in her opening match, earning victory in 26 minutes.

The next test for Tesni is against second seed Alison Waters on Friday evening (7pm).

Tesni, ranked 21 in the World, is the daughter of Squash Wales coach Andrew and started playing when the Evans family were living in Cardiff.

Deon Saffery, from Barry, was drawn against top seed Laura Massaro in her opening match at the nationals, losing 11-2, 11-6, 11-3 in 24 minutes.

Tesni’s brother, Emyr, was in the men’s qualifying draw and he was drawn against Matt Sidaway in the second round. Emery started strongly and took the opening game 11-8, but Sidaway fought back to win 3-1 (11-8, 11-7, 11-2) in 41 minutes.

Nick Matthew is top seed for the men’s title, while Massaro is favourite to become women’s champion.

Quarter-Finals in Manchester on Friday

Men’s: Alan Clyne v Adrian Waller, James Willstrop v Joe Lee, Nick Matthew v Jaymie Haycocks, Tom Richards v Declan Jones.

Women’s: Laura Massaro v Fiona Moverly, Emily Whitlock v Jenny Duncalf, Sarah-Jane Perry v Victoria Lust, Alison Waters v Tesni Evans.

Rhiwbina SRC will host the Welsh Open Championships in Cardiff during May. The tournament will attract World class players and is scheduled to run from Tuesday 23 until Sunday 28.

There will be 10,000 dollars in prize money available and organisers Rhiwbina Recreation Club, working closely with Wales Squash, Sport Wales and the Professional Squash Association, are planning to make this an annual event.

Rhiwbina’s Peter Creed, the current Welsh champion, and Joel Makin, both ranked among the World’s top 70, are the leading male players in Wales, while Tesni Evans is number one among the women.