RESULTS: Dutch Open, Rotterdam, Netherlands

1st round:
[1] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 11-5, 11-7, 12-10 (55m)
[5] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) bt Davide Bianchetti (ITA) 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7 (49m)
[4] Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Dylan Bennett (NED) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (40m)
[6] Simon Rosner (GER) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 13-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7 (67m)
[7] Chris Ryder (ENG) bt [Q] Jens Schoor (GER) 11-2, 11-3, 11-7 (29m)
[3] Alister Walker (ENG) bt [Q] Joel Hinds (ENG) 11-6, 11-0, 12-10 (43m)
[Q] Steve Finitsis (AUS) bt [8] Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9 (80m)
[2] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt [Q] Piedro Schweertman (NED) 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 (40m)


Netherlands-based Aussie Steve Finitsis pulled off the only surprise in the first round of the Dutch Open when he beat eighth-seeded compatriot Aaron Frankcomb to reach the quarter-finals of the $30,000 PSA World Tour squash event at Victoria Squash in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

"It was more of a length game, the pace wasn't ridiculously high so I don't feel too bad physically," said the delighted Queenslander after his 80-minute 11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9 victory over Frankcomb, the world No42.

"At two-nil up I maybe thought I had a bit of a roll on and relaxed a bit, but he stayed steady to pull one back and we both fell back into a sort of safe mode in the fourth," added the Almere-based world No76.

Finitsis now faces another fellow countryman Cameron Pilley. Runner-up for the last two years, the world No14's 2010 campaign didn't get off to the greatest of starts as the second seed found himself 10-7 down to Dutch qualifier Piedro Schweertman in their first game.

"He played well in the first, at five or six all he started going for crosscourt nicks and got most of them," explained Pilley. "I just had to try to weather the storm, tough out a few rallies and get back into it."

The 28-year-old from New South Wales did just that, taking the next five points and enjoying a more comfortable time in the next two games of which he was always in charge. "I train with Piedro quite a bit so I know he's a strong lad and that it was going to take a little while to tire him out."

Local interest in the last eight rests exclusively on the shoulders of top seed Laurens Jan Anjema. The world No11 from The Hague needed 55 minutes to overcome unseeded Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet 11-5, 11-7, 12-10.

"He was so fast in the first two games," said Castagnet, the world No59.

"He was pretty fast too," countered Anjema. "And the thing with Mathieu is that his level never changes, he's the same throughout the whole match, so in the first you think 'this is not too bad', but by the time you get to the third you think 'this is getting hard now'."

Anjema, the only player in the men's draw to compete in every edition of the Dutch Open since 2002, was happy to be through in three games: "The first two games were very tough physically, the third was tough score-wise. I just had to keep my focus there, it was more of a mental game, that one."

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v [5] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY)
[4] Stewart Boswell (AUS) v [6] Simon Rosner (GER)
[3] Alister Walker (ENG) v [7] Chris Ryder (ENG)
[2] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Q] Steve Finitsis (AUS)