Matthew keeps second American title in sight

NICK Matthew maintained his bid for a second US Open title after comfortably overcoming qualifier Campbell Grayson in Philadelphia last night.

By The Newsroom

Published 15th Oct 2013, 09:50 BST

The 33-year-old, from Sheffield, took 38 minutes to get past the dogged New Zealander, eventually clinching a place in the quarter-finals on the back of an 11-5 11-5 11-6 success.

It followed his first-round win over Kuwait qualifier Abdullah Al Muzayen, winning 11-0 12-10 14-12.

Matthew, whose match was the last one on court in the afternoon session at Drexel University, will next meet the winner of the all-English duel between Joe Lee and Peter Barker.

Matthew’s fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop was due on court at around midnight to take on Karim Abdel Gawad in their second-round match.

In the women’s draw there was disappointment for Harrogate’s Jenny Duncalf after she was defeated by Australia’s Kasey Brown.

The seventh seed and former world No 2 struggled to get going in the first game, but came back well in the subsequent two games before finally succumbing 11-4 11-7 12-10 after a gruelling 41 minutes.