Big names advance to Indoors semi finals
Eight players have one foot firmly planted in the final of the $48,000 Australian Indoor Championships, after the semi-finals were decided on Wednesday at Club Tweed.
Day three of the 2022 Australian Indoor Championships commenced with the round of 16, with some hard fought contests sending big names through and others home.
Sarah Boddington continued her strong run, defeating Tweed local Jessie Cottell before knocking out Joan Thomas in the quarter finals to book a spot in the semis.
She will take on young gun Brianna Smith in the first of the semi finals on Thursday.
In an Australian Open singles final replay, Kelsey Cottrell will meet Dawn Hayman in the other women’s semi final.
Cottrell recorded two solid wins over Cass Millerick and Debbie Logan to progress, looking as dominant as ever.
Hayman carries plenty of form into the match too, having beaten Kay Moran and Chloe Stewart on her way to the semi finals. She put her strong form on display on Bowls Australia’s streaming platform Rinkside Live, to set up what should be a thrilling contest with Cottrell.
Several big names also progressed on the men’s side of the draw after some high-quality matches.
Dylan Fisher’s return to the big stage continues, after a quality tiebreak win over Peter Taylor in his quarter final.
He meets New Zealander and Club Musgrave star Chris Le Lievre in a semi final on Thursday, after a remarkable finish to the Kiwi’s quarter final against Tasmania’s Isaac Maughan.
With scores level at 1-1 on the final tiebreak end, Le Lievre put the jack in the ditch with his second bowl, doing enough to claim victory.
Warilla teammates Aaron Teys and Corey Wedlock battled it out in a back-and-forth quarter final, with Teys taking the chocolates this time around. He will hope to claim his second Indoors crown, having won back in 2018.
He will face possibly the hardest opponent in the draw, meeting Aron Sherriff in his semi final on Friday morning.
Sherriff was pushed by Matt Miles in his quarter final, but showed his class to advance to a mouth-watering contest against Teys.
Just six matches remain in the Indoors Championships, all of which will be streamed live on Bowls Australia’s Facebook page.
Thursday’s schedule:
- 9am: Women’s semi-final 1 – Brianna Smith (St Johns Park, NSW) v Sarah Boddington (Forster, NSW)
- 11am: Men’s semi-final 1 – Dylan Fisher (Moonee Valley, VIC) v Chris Le Lievre (Club Musgrave, QLD)
- 2pm: Women’s semi-final 2 – Dawn Hayman (St Johns Park, NSW) v Kelsey Cottrell (Broadbeach, QLD)
Friday’s schedule:
- 9am: Men’s semi-final 2 – Aaron Teys (Warilla, NSW) v Aron Sherriff (Broadbeach, QLD)
- 11am: Women’s final – winner of semi-final 1 v winner of semi-final 2
- 2pm: Men’s finals – winner of semi-final 1 v winner of semi-final 2
