New Zealanders met with mixed success on the first day of the world open squash championships in Rotterdam on Tuesday (NZT).
Wellington's Martin Knight, the top-ranked New Zealander, came back from two sets down to beat world No.48 Czech Jan Koukal 3-11 4-11 11-8 11-8 11-8 and move through to the second round.
Knight, ranked 46th in the world, took 1hr 34min to account for Koukal and will face world No.15 Hisham Ashour (Egypt) on Wednesday.
Qualifier Campbell Grayson (Auckland) battled hard against world No.2 Ramy Ashour, ranked 59 places above him, but the Egyptian proved too strong and powered to a 11-9 14-12 11-5 win.
New Zealander Joelle King, seeded 10th in the women's draw, plays qualifier and world No.32 Gaby Huber (Switzerland) on Wednesday while New Zealand's world No.16 Jaclyn Hawkes meets India's 19th-ranked Dipika Palikal.
NZN