LAURA Massaro will target a semi-final place at the British Championships this afternoon when she faces Emily Whitlock.

Hoghton’s Massaro, the No.1 seed, defeated qualifier Jessica Davis in round one yesterday winning 11-2, 11-2, 11-7.

Massaro was pleased to have come through a potentially tricky opening tie in Manchester and was full of praise for the crowd.

She said of Davis: “She’s a young girl and she seemed to be a bit nervous to start off with. It was a big first round match on the glass court for her, so probably unfamiliar circumstances for her, so I made a really good start. “I kept myself really solid in my plan, she started to make her way into the game a little bit more in the third and then it was a little bit more competitive.

“It’s nice to be back playing in Manchester and it’s good to get the first round out of the way. Because I’m local hopefully the crowd will be supporting me which would be really nice.”

Massaro is on court at 2pm today.

In the men’s draw Chorley-based pair Eddie Charlton and James Earles, who is the number one ranked played at the David Lloyd Centre in Chorley, both lost in round two.

Charlton lost to Daryl Selby 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 in 34 minutes having overcome Mark Fuller in a marathon first round match earlier in the day. Charlton prevailed in that one winning 11-7 in the fifth and final game having been on court for 83 minutes.

Earles overcame Tom Ford in five games in round one in a match that went on for nearly 70 minutes before succumbing to Adrian Walker in round two losing 11-6, 11-2, 11-8.

Another Chorley-based player Julian Thompson made it into the first round as a lucky loser but was beaten in three games by Ben Coleman.

Ashley Davies, also based in Chorley, bowed out in the first round to Alan Clyne but not before given the Scot a scare. Davies, who had come through two rounds of qualifying, was beaten 11-4, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11.