Danny Gamble Open Preview: Nghiem Enjoyed Manchester Experience

The Danny Gamble Open is the second women’s Challenger 3 event of the week, and England’s Saran Nghiem is coming in off the back of featuring at the Manchester Open.

The Englishwoman grew up in Manchester, and spent her junior years training at the National Squash Centre. She was the wildcard for the women’s Silver level event last week, an experience she enjoyed.

“I think I am playing quite well. I have put in some good training days before I played the Manchester Open and then following that with some good motivation to keep pushing on and keep training hard,” she explained.

“It was a great experience to be back where I started playing, especially to be on the new court in front of a home crowd. It was really special and a great experience to get on the glass in a big tournament, it was really nice.”

Nghiem now spends the majority of her time in the United States, as one of the newest members of the Harvard team, following in the footsteps of Ali Farag, Victor Crouin and Gina Kennedy, to name a few.

The Englishwoman is enjoying her time in the collegiate game, and says that it is a learning curve that she is enjoying. She also knows that it will be hard to play both in collegiate squash and on Tour, but it is a challenge she is looking forward to.

“I have loved it. I have really got on well with the team and made a lot of good friends who I think I will be close to for the rest of my life. I have had some really good experiences with the rest of my class of 2026, so it has been a lot of fun!” Nghiem said.

“Obviously it is hard, but I have had some experience with playing and studying at the same time. Obviously, studies come first at Harvard, and just getting on court when I can. It is hard but it is definitely manageable!”

Nghiem has moved inside the world’s top 100 following her Manchester Open appearance, and she wants to see her ranking keep improving. A maiden Tour win this week would add to that rise.

“I just want to keep playing well, having fun on court and if the ranking goes up alongside that then it is a massive bonus!” she said.

“It would be great! One of my first tournaments over the summer, it would really set the tone for the rest of the summer and get myself some ranking points.”

Singapore’s Au Yeong Wai Yhann will be the tournament’s top seed, with Scotland’s Alison Thomson as the other member of the world’s top 100 in action, alongside Nghiem.

Thomson’s compatriot, Katriona Allen will join four other Englishwomen in the top eight seeds for the Challenger 3 level event in Canterbury. Asia Harris, Katie Wells, Amelie Haworth and Isabel McCullough will be seeded this week.

The event takes place from Friday, May 26 to Sunday, May 28 at the VENUE in CITY, where WHO is the top seed for the tournament. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: The Danny Gamble Open
[1] Au Yeong Wai Yhann (SGP) v Mariana Ventura Martins (POR)
[WC] Hayley Openshaw-Blower (ENG) v [8] Isabel McCullough (ENG)
[6] Katie Wells (ENG) v Jasmin Kalar (ENG)
Nika Urh (SLO) v [3] Asia Harris (ENG)
[4] Saran Nghiem (ENG) v Savannah Ingledew (RSA)
Catherine Holland (SCO) v [5] Katriona Allen (SCO)
[7] Amelie Haworth (ENG) v Olivia Besant (ENG)
Shin Yujin (KOR) v [2] Alison Thomson (SCO)