Udy, Graham bag squash titles

Two of the province’s most successful players over the past decade came away with the major titles at the recent Marlborough Squash Open.

Megan Graham, a two-time national champion, took out the women’s title, while Quinn Udy, recently returned from abroad, claimed the men’s crown.

In the women’s draw, Megan beat her sister, Carly, and then Olivia McCoy from Christchurch, before getting the better of club president, Julie Brown in the title decider.

Megan also participated in the men’s draw, beating Kevin Milne and Henry Moran to reach the final where she came up against Quinn, who had beaten Liam Gale from Nelson and then Chris Hebberd to reach the decider.

It was a hard-fought encounter between two experienced operators with many long rallies. Quinn won the first, but Megan came from behind in the second when Quinn had game ball at 10-8 to level things up. However, Quinn proved too strong in the final two games, claiming the men’s title for the first time, three games to one.

The last time Quinn was in New Zealand was in 2019 as the pandemic prevented him from returning until February this year.  He says he has played more squash since he has been back than he played in the previous two years as unfortunately the pandemic cancelled much of his final two years of competitive squash at his University in the US. He plans to return to the States soon.

Chris Hebberd played Henry Moran for third and fourth, the match turning into a massive battle which was won by Chris in the fifth.

Despite COVID and harvest timing impacting the draw, around 70 players contested the Open.

It is planned to stage a Harvest Open in May so players involved in the industry have a chance to play in a local tournament.