Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Last Three Events Of 2022

The final week of action on the Challenger Tour in 2022 will feature three tournaments, with action coming from India, Spain and the United States.

England’s Finnlay Withington won the only event on Tour last week, as he claimed the Harrogate Squash Open crown on Sunday, to win for the second time on Tour this year.

This week, the action begins in the United States, with Nathan Lake aiming to defend his title at the Wakefield PSA. That starts on Tuesday, December 13, with the Open Costa Del Sol getting underway in Spain a couple of days later. The last tournament of the week will be the Daly College & SquashXtreme SRFI Open, which will take place in Indore, India from Sunday, December 18 to Thursday, December 22.

Take a look at what is happening on Tour right here…

Wakefield PSA
The first of three tournaments this week will be the Wakefield PSA, which will once again be held at the Wakefield School in The Plains, VA. The Challenger 10 level tournament will take place from Tuesday, December 13 to Friday, December 16.

England’s Nathan Lake won last year’s event and he will be back to defend his crown. The Englishman will be the tournament’s top seed, with Pakistan’s Muhammad Asim Khan, Canadian No.1 David Baillargeon and Czech Republic’s Daniel Mekbib in the top four seeds.

Pakistan’s Muhammad Ashab Irfan, Guatemalan Alejandro Enriquez, Egypt’s Abdelrahman Nassar and South Africa’s Dewald van Niekerk will round out the eight seeds for the competition. There will be just one American in the draw, in Jamie Ruggiero.

Open Costa Del Sol
The Open Costa Del Sol returns for a third year on Tour, with the Challenger 3 level competition taking place in Fuengirola, Spain from Thursday, December 15 to Saturday, December 17.

Home favourite Ivan Perez will be the top seed for the competition, and he will be joined by compatriots Nilo Vidal, Augusto Ortigosa, Javier Martin and Pablo Quintana Estevez as the Spaniards who are seeded this week.

They will be joined by Frenchman Edwin Clain, Englishman Lewis Doughty and Belgium’s Lowie Delbeke among the seeded eight. Argentina’s Robertino Pezzota, who made his return to the Tour after three years at the PSA Cognac last month, will be the wildcard.

Daly College & SquashXtreme SRFI Open
The last tournament of the year on the Challenger Tour will be the Daly College & SquashXtreme SRFI Open, which will take place from Sunday, December 18 to Wednesday, December 22 in Indore, India.

The Daly College will play host to the Challenger 10 level tournament, which will feature both a men’s and women’s competition and both draws will have plenty of Indian representation.

Akanksha Salunkhe will be the top seed in the women’s event, and she will be joined in the seeds by compatriots Tanvi Khanna and Urwashi Joshi. The Egyptian quintet of Menna Hamed, Nadeen Kotb, Lojayn Gohary, Ingy Hammouda and Amina El Rihany make up the rest of the seeds.

Meanwhile, newly crowned Indian National Champion Abhay Singh will be aiming to win a sixth title of the year. He will be the No.2 seed for the men’s draw, behind only Egypt’s Zahed Salem, the former World No.14. Sandeep Ramachandran will be the other Indian among the top eight seeds, with Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri and Frenchman Maceo Levy also featuring.

This Week’s Schedule:
Wakefield PSA: Tuesday, December 13 – Friday, December 16
Open Costa Del Sol: Thursday, December 15 – Saturday, December 17
Daly College & SquashXtreme SRFI Open: Sunday, December 18 – Wednesday, December 22