England’s world No. 4 Laura Massaro ended Olivia Blatchford’s Cathay Pacific Sun Hun Kai Financial Hong Kong Open campaign Thursday at the Hong Kong park Sports Center in China.
The American world No. 13 picked up her second World Series victory of the season with a first-round win against world No. 22 and Yale graduate Millie Tomlinson Tuesday to set up a second round clash with Massaro.
In what was their fifth career PSA Tour match up, Massaro made it 5-0 against the U.S. champion, defeating Blatchford 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5 in forty-two minutes.
“The third game was really tight the whole way and she had that game ball at 10-9,” Massaro said afterwards. “I got a couple of lucky bounces in the back corners, but it meant that my balls were in the right area. I was happy to be able to come off with that game, we changed the ball after the second game and it was a little bit fast, so I tried to use that to my advantage a little bit more, and use my power.”
The Hong Kong Open marks Blatchford’s second appearance in a World Series second round this season.
Watch Hong Kong Open action live on SquashTV.