2024 Australian Open: Day 8 recap
Day eight of the 2024 Australian Open saw the first knockout rounds of the event take place, with men’s and women’s singles taking centre stage.
Women’s Singles – R128, R64, R32
The opening women’s singles knockout rounds saw 2023 singles champion Cassandra Millerick bow out.
2015 singles runner-up Maree Gibbs was imperious as she took down the reigning champion 21-14, before falling short in the following round.
Reigning Australian Indoors champion Samantha Atkinson claimed a big scalp in Australian Jackaroo Kristina Krstic 21-18 in the round of 128, before running into New Zealand star Katelyn Inch, going down by a slender shot.
Inch would then go on to fall short against Jackaroo Jamie-Lee Worsnop 12-21 in the round of 32.
2022 pairs runner-up Wendy Wilson had a day to remember, taking down New Zealand Blackjack Selina Goddard (21-16) and Jackaroo Kylie Whitehead (21-19) among her three wins to advance to the round of 16.
Sarah Boddington claimed one of the scalps of the day, recording a 21-5 win over three-time singles champion Natasha Van Eldik.
Heather Hodgson also had a day out, knocking out Kira Bourke and Ellen Fife to move to the round of 16.
Reigning singles world champion Tayla Bruce also succumbed on Saturday in the round of 32, with Moama young gun Olivia Cartwright coming out on top 21-9.
Just 16 women remain in the hunt for the singles title, with Kelsey Cottrell and Lynsey Clarke the only remaining former singles champions.
Sunday will see the women’s singles knockout matches continue, with round of 16 games and quarter-finals taking place at Club Helensvale.
VIEW THE WOMEN’S SINGLES KNOCKOUT DRAW
Men’s Singles – R512, R256, R128
A plethora of men’s singles knockout games took to the Gold Coast greens on Saturday, with rounds of 512, 256 and 128 taking place.
Young gun Jack McShane recorded a big win, taking down 2023 World Bowls Championship singles silver medallist Gary Kelly 21-14 in the round of 128.
Kane Nelson beat Dale McWhinney-Shillington 21-11 in the first round of the day, before running into reigning champion Aron Sherriff in the round of 256, going down 9-21.
Sherriff’s hunt for a third consecutive singles crown is still alive, advancing to the round of 64.
Current number one ranked male bowler Josh Walker-Davis recorded a hard-fought 21-20 win over Jackaroo Matt Lucas in the round of 512, but fell short against Malaysia’s Fairul Izwan 21-19.
Ray Pearse‘s hot form continued, moving to the round of 64 after taking down Ben Twist in the round of 128.
Men’s Singles knockout action continues on Sunday, with rounds of 64, 32 and 16 taking place.
VIEW THE MEN’S SINGLES KNOCKOUT DRAW
The first of the para events begin on Sunday as well, with multi-disability men’s and women’s singles and vision-impaired singles sectional play being contested, as well as the one-day mixed pairs events at Robina and Club Musgrave.
The 2024 Australian Open will run from the June 8-21, 2024 on the Gold Coast in Queensland with Rinkside Live coverage from 9am AEST daily on Bowls Australia’s YouTube channel.
