SQUASH PLAYER NEWS

Coll wins Squash Player’s Player of the Month award

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New Zealander Paul Coll has been named Squash Player’s Male Player of the Month for July after registering a hat-trick of PSA Tour tournament victories in his homeland in June.

The 24-year-old from Christchurch followed his surprise runner-up finish in the $25,000 HKFC International in Hong Kong in May by winning the $15,000 New Zealand International Classic and NZ Southern Open, as well as the $10,000 Christchurch International Open.

The Greymouth-born right-hander justified his top seeding in all three events to take his tally of PSA Tour titles to 11 from 13 finals and climb to a career-best 31st in the July world ranking.

The year didn’t begin well for Coll, who lost in the first round of five successive Tour events in March and April, including the Canary Wharf Classic, where his retrieving won praise from former world no1 James Willstrop.

However, a 3/2 win over the unseeded Charles Sharpes in the first round of the $25,000 Open de Paris in May, where he was the no.5 seed, heralded a change in fortune.

The New Zealander then upset fourth seed Alan Clyne 3/2 on the way to the semi-finals in France and has scarcely looked back since.