Springfield Scottish Squash Open: Top Seeds Suffer Shock Exits

Top seeds and home favourites Rory Stewart and Georgia Adderley both suffered shock exits in the Springfield Scottish Squash Open quarter-finals, ending Scottish hopes of glory on home soil. 

Stewart was knocked out by 2019 champion Edmon Lopez in three games, albiet in a match that took more than an hour, with the first two games each finishing 17-15. 

Lopez was a top-60 player when he won this event four years ago, and despite having slipped down the rankings since, he’ll be eyeing up another title in the Scottish Highlands. 

Stewart’s defeat meant women’s No.1 seed Adderley stood alone in carrying hopes of home success, but she too fell to a 3-0 defeat, losing out to England’s No.5 seed Torrie Malik in the final match of the day. 

Malik will now take on Asia Harris in an all-English semi-final, after the 18-year-old continued her fine week by upsetting another seeded player to reach the final four, this time knocking out New Zealand’s Kaitlyn Watts. 

In the bottom half of the draw, it’ll be two versus three in terms of the seedings with the potential of an all-English final, if Grace Gear can get past Nardine Garas of Egypt. 

Gear showed little sign of any fatigue following her five-game encounter in round two, brushing aside Rana Ismail inside half an hour to reach the last four. 

Garas, meanwhile, had a much tougher day on court, needing all five games to get past No.6 seed Alicia Mead. 

Ben Smith, Daniel Poleshchuk and Kareem El Torkey make up the rest of the men’s semi-finals.

You can watch every match from the semi-finals and final of the Scottish Open live on the PSA Live Streaming YouTube channel and the BBC Sport website. 

Results: Men’s Quarter-Finals

Edmon Lopez (ESP) bt [1] Rory Stewart (SCO) 3-0: 17-15, 1715, 11-7 (66m) 

Kareem El Torkey (EGY) bt Miles Jenkins (ENG) 3-1: 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-2 (52m) 

[3] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [5] James Peach (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (40m) 

[2] Ben Smith (ENG) bt [8] Sam Buckley (IRL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-7 (45m)

Draw: Men’s Semi-Finals

Edmon Lopez (ESP) v Kareem El Torkey (EGY) 

[3] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) v [2] Ben Smith (ENG) 

Results: Women’s Quarter-Finals

[5] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt [1] Georgia Adderley (SCO) 3-0: 11-7, 15-13, 13-11 (40m) 

Asia Harris (ENG) bt [7] Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) 3-2: 8-11, 11-3, 13-11, 12-10 (43m) 

[3] Nardine Garas (EGY) bt [6] Alicia Mead (ENG) 12-10, 7-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5 (46m) 

[2] Grace Gear (ENG) bt [8] Rana Ismail (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 13-11 (27m)

Draw: Women’s Semi-Finals

[5] Torrie Malik (ENG) v Asia Harris (ENG) 

[3] Nardine Garas (EGY) v [2] Grace Gear (ENG)