Springfield Scottish Squash Open: Lopez Wins Thriller, Harris into Final

Teenager Asia Harris reached the biggest final of her career, upsetting No.4 seed Torrie Malik in the Springfield Scottish Squash Open semi-finals. 

Harris had already spent more than two hours on court to reach this stage, beating No.4 seed Marta Dominguez Fernandez and then seventh seed Kaitlyn Watts in the last two rounds, with both matches going the distance. 

This time around, though, she got the job done in four, beating Malik for the first time on the PSA Tour, at the fourth attempt. 

Harris will now face another Englishwoman in Sunday’s final in the form of Grace Gear. 

The No.2 seed had Harris cheering her on in her semi-final win over Nardine Garas, which, at 41 minutes, was the shortest match of what was an enthralling day. 

A matchup of contrasting styles between 6ft 4 Ben Smith and 5ft 6 Daniel Poleshchuk had opened the day’s proceedings, with the players seeded No.2 and No.3 respectively and separated by just three places in the world rankings. 

Like the women’s second seed Gear, Smith did not have it all his own way, but ran out a 3-1 winner to book his spot in the final. 

He will face 2019 champion Edmon Lopez, who came out on top of a mouthwatering five-game thriller with young Egyptian talent Kareem El Torkey. 

Torkey – who only turned 19 during this tournament – showcased a spectacular array of power and athleticism that could carry him towards the game’s elite, but was ultimately undone by the more experienced Spaniard. 

Nothing epitomised the back-and-forth nature of their contest more than the third game, in which Lopez went 6-0 up before having to save two game balls at 10-8, eventually going on to take the game 12-10. 

The Springfield Scottish Squash Open finals get underway at 3pm BST on Sunday, and you can watch both matches live on the PSA Live Streaming YouTube channel and the BBC Sport website. 

Results: Men’s Semi-Finals

Edmon Lopez (ESP) bt Kareem El Torkey (EGY) 3-2: 15-13, 6-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-3 (88m) 

[2] Ben Smith (ENG) bt [3] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 3-1: 11-8, 11-2, 18-11, 11-8 (49m) 

Draw: Men’s Final

Edmon Lopez (ESP) v [2] Ben Smith (ENG) 

Results: Women’s Semi-Finals

Asia Harris (ENG) bt [5] Torrie Malik (ENG): 11-5, 14-12, 8-11, 11-9 (52m) 

[2] Grace Gear (ENG) bt [3] Nardine Garas (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 (41m)

Draw: Women’s Final

Asia Harris (ENG) v [2] Grace Gear (ENG)