Schraglage Squash Open: Tournament Preview

The lone event on the Challenger Tour this week will be the Schraglage Squash Open powered by VASS, which will take place from Thursday, July 21 to Sunday, July 24 at the Pink Power club in Boblingen, Germany.

The event will feature a 32-strong Challenger 5 level men’s draw, and a 16-strong Challenger 3 level women’s event, with the former beginning on Thursday, while the women’s event gets underway on Friday afternoon.

World No.82 Yassin Elshafei will be the top seed for the men’s event, and he will be aiming to win for a third time on Tour this season, after a pair of wins in Bangladesh, at the Bangabandu Ispahani Squash Tournament and the Bangamata Squash Tournament earlier in the campaign.

The rest of the top eight seeds will all be European, with the Czech Republic’s Jakub Solnicky and Viktor Byrtus amongst them. Switzerland’s Robin Gadola, Austrian No.1 and Aqeel Rehman, Belgium’s Joeri Hapers and England’s Stuart MacGregor.

World No.137 Valentin Rapp will be the No.3 seed for the men’s competition, and he will be one of eight German men in action on home soil, with Nils Schwab, Nils Herzberg, Dennis Welte, Finn Koch and Fabian Igelbrink all wildcards in the draw.

Switzerland’s Nadia Pfister will be the top seed for the women’s Challenger 3 level draw, with Germany’s Saskia Beinhard as her nearest competitor for the title. England’s Alicia Mead and Spaniard Sofia Mateos will make up the rest of the top four seeds for the competitions.

Katerina Tycova and Aylin Gunsav add to the German interest in the women’s draw alongside Beinhard, with a total of ten nations represented. Malaysia’s Maisara Azlan will be the only non-European in the women’s draw.

The event takes place from Thursday, July 21 to Sunday, July 24 at Pink Power in Boblingen, Germany. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on *Twitter* and *Facebook* for daily updates from the event.

Action from Pink Power will be streamed throughout the week on the *PSA Challenger Tour YouTube channel*, where you can watch Challenger Tour action, and interviews with rising stars.

*Men’s First Round Draw: Schraglage Squash Open powered by VASS*
[1] Yassin Elshafei (EGY) v Tobias Weggen (GER)
Abdelrahman Nasser (EGY) v [16] Nils Roesch (SUI)
[9] Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) v Lukas Windischberger (AUT)
[WC] Finn Koch (GER) v [7] Joeri Hapers (BEL)
[8] Stuart MacGregor (ENG) v [WC] Fabian Igelbrink (GER)
[WC] Tarek Shehata (EGY) v [12] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE)
[10] Valeriy Fedoruk (UKR) v Julius Benthin (GER)
[WC] Jakob Kanel (SUI) v [4] Robin Gadola (SUI)
[3] Valentin Rapp (GER) v [WC] Dennis Welte (GER)
Lewis Anderson (ENG) v [13] Karim Elbarbary (EGY)
[11] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) v [WC] Sven Stettler (SUI)
[WC] Nils Herzberg (GER) v [5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT)
[6] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) v [WC] Nils Schwab (GER)
David Bernet (SUI) v [14] Nilo Vidal (ESP)
[15] Liam Marrison (CAN) v Sepehr Etemadpoor (IRI)
Ziad Ibrahim (EGY) v [2] Jakub Solnicky (CZE)

*Women’s First Round Draw: Schraglage Squash Open powered by VASS*
[1] Nadia Pfister (SUI) v Tereza Siroka (CZE)
Lilou Brevard-Belliot (FRA) v [5] Katerina Tycova (GER)
[8] Polly Clark (ENG) v Stella Kaufmann (SUI)
Aylin Gunsav (GER) v [3] Alicia Mead (ENG)
[4] Sofia Mateos (ESP) v Catherine Holland (SCO)
Anastasia Kostiukova (UKR) v [6] Katie Wells (ENG)
[7] Jacqueline Peychar (AUT) v Maisara Azlan (MAS)
[WC] Alina Poessl (SUI) v [2] Saskia Beinhard (GER)