Malaysian Vanessa Raj Moves Into US Open Second Qualifying Round

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- Up-and-coming national woman squash player Vanessa Raj has showed great composure to cruise into the second qualifying round of the 2015 US Open squash championship held in Philadelphia, USA. Vanessa defeated Canada's Melina Turk 11-3, 11-3, 11-2 in just 18 minutes to cross the first hurdle in the first qualifying match held at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia as quoted in the tournament website www.usopensquash.com. The 19-year-old Penangite is slated to play against Joey Chan of Hong Kong, later Friday. Chan defeated another Malaysian player, Nabilla Ariffin 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 in 22 minutes. Former world number one Nicol David who recently recovered from a thigh injury, will kick off her fourth consecutive US Open title against a qualifier while national number three Delia Arnold will be facing Nicolette Fernandes of Guyana in the opening matches, Saturday. Nicol is already being touted as a major favourite to win the tournament, alongside her Egyptian rival, Raneem El Weilely, who dispatched Nicol as the world number one earlier this year. -- BERNAMA