Top seeds advance on day one of English Junior Championships

It was a successful opening day of the 2023 English Junior Championships (EJC) in Surrey as all the top seeds prevailed across all eleven age groups.

Boys Under 19 top seed Jonah Bryant of Sussex, who’s aiming for his sixth successive national title, emphatically progressed to the quarter-finals by defeating Sacha Cooper 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-0.

After beating Tom Greengrass (Sussex) in the last 32, [9/12] Kriss Kasunda defeated [5/8] James Carman (Middlesex) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-7 to reach the last eight.

The Girls Under 19 defending champion and No.1 seed Torrie Malik (Sussex), who’s also gunning for a sixth straight EJC crown, cruised into the semi-finals with a comprehensive 11-5, 11-5, 11-1 victory.

Elsewhere, in the Boys Under 17 draw, [9/16] Ethan Duncan (Herts) edged [5/8] Jake Sim-Baskar (Sussex) in a five-game thriller, clinching the match: 11-5, 10-12, 11-3, 3-11, 11-8 to progress to the next round. Duncan joins the remaining top eight seeds, including [1] Alex Broadbridge of Hampshire in the quarter-finals.

The No.1 seed in the Girls Under 17 event, Emily Coulcher-Porter (Bucks) produced a dominant display, seeing off [9/16] Grace Winton (Sussex) in straight games, and impressively conceding just three points. The rest of the top eight seeds also safely made it into the last eight.

In the Girls Under 15s, [1] Mariam Eissa (Warks) dispatched Amelie Vipond (Warks) 3-0: 11-2, 11-2, 11-5. Meanwhile, top seed in the boys event Ismail Khalil (Warks) registered comfortable, straight games triumphs over Joshua Deubert (Kent) and [13/15] James Graham (Greater London) to book a quarter-final spot.

[9/12] Henry Surridge (Warks) backed up his last 32 win in the Boys Under 13 draw by claiming the scalp of [5/8] seed Jackson Lee Varanese (Middlesex), taking a hard-fought 14-12, 11-6, 11-4 win.

The No.1 seed Zack Greengrass of Sussex comfortably booked a last eight spot after beating Aditya Chandramouli (Middlesex) and Joe Thompson (Yorks) in the last 32 and last 16 rounds, respectively.

There was also a surprise result in the Girls Under 13 tournament as [9/12] Aditi Rao (Oxfordshire) got the better of [5/8] Sophie Harding (Essex) in straight games. Elsewhere, [1] Ameerah Ismail (Warks) reached the last eight after seeing off [13/16] Grace Woodhead (Essex) 3-0: 11-0, 11-2, 11-3.

Meanwhile in the Boys Under 11 competition, [9/12] Jacob Askey came out on top against [5/8] James Barker (Yorks), taking him down 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 11-7 to secure a place in the quarter-finals. No.1 seed Finley Brown (Leics) overcame Jamie Evers 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-4.

It was a fruitful day for the top four seeds in the Girls Under 11 draw as they all advanced, with [1] Maya Goel (Surrey) notching resounding victories over [5/8] Khia Gokani (Leics) and Yuk Yee Lee.

The mixed under 9s tournament kicks off tomorrow (Saturday), with last 16, quarter-final and semi-final ties to be played.

Watch the quarter-finals on the all-glass court at St George's Hill live and for free from 9am. Tune in on the official tournament website or head to the England Squash YouTube channel.

View the draws and results and follow the Twitter account.