Challenger Events
Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Green Squash Tour Begins
There are eight events on the PSA Challenger Tour this week, headlined by the Local World LA Open, plus two French tournaments to kick off the Green Squash Tour.
The Local World LA Open is a PSA Challenger Tour 15 event, and you can watch it live on the PSA Live Streaming YouTube channel.
American duo Faraz Khan and Andrew Douglas lead the home hopes as the top two seeds, with England’s Tom Walsh at No.3, fresh from a run to the semi-finals of a 30k event in Chicago last week.
Walsh is now up to a career-high world ranking of No.68 having beaten Israel’s Daniel Poleshchuk – the No.5 seed here – to reach the final four, even pushing World No.17 Aly Abou Eleinen hard in the semi-finals.
Khan was also beaten in Chicago by Eleinen, going down 3-1 in the quarter-finals, and will be playing his eighth tournament of the season in the City of Angels.
More than 5,000 miles away, the Green Squash Tour gets underway in France.
The tour features seven events across six weeks in different French locations, and begins with a doubleheader, the 3rd Open de Lagord and the 1er Open PSA Féminin de Couzeix/Limoges.
French No.2 Baptiste Masotti is the standout name on the entry list in Lagord, entering as the No.1 seed having just reached the semi-finals of the Grasshopper Cup in Switzerland.
Masotti stunned Mostafa Asal in the quarter-finals of that event, but one round earlier was on the brink of defeat.
He was a game and 10-7 down to Greg Lobban in a best-of-three matchup, but saved all three match balls before coming back to take the decider.
Should results follow the seedings here, the Scot will not have to wait long for a shot at revenge, as he tops the bottom half of the draw as the No.2 seed.
No.6 seed Lucas Serme will also have the backing of the home crowd, while Declan James plays his second match since returning from injury, once again using his pegged ranking to join in round two.
The 1er Open PSA Féminin de Couzeix/Limoges also has some home interest among the seeds, most notably in the form of 16-year-old Lauren Baltayan.
The 2023 French Junior Open champion already has a PSA Tour title to her name, winning the Open Des Bretzels – 2nd Edition just two days after her 16th birthday in May, and enters play in this one as the No.5 seed.
The more experienced Elise Romba is one spot below her in the draw, hoping home advantage will help her to a first PSA Tour title.
Elsewhere, the Swiss Open features a home favourite at the top of both the men’s and women’s draws, with Yannick Wilhelmi and Nadia Pfister leading the charge, while Australian duo Jessica Turnbull and Sarah Cardwell are the top two seeds in the women’s draw at the Logan City Queensland Open.
The PVD Squash RI Open, Burnt Squash Open and Oban Open also take place this week. Make sure you’re following the PSA Challenger Tour Facebook and X pages to stay up to date with results.
