Challenger Tour Round-Up: Haworth Battles Past Eissa; Top Seed Crashes Out in Houston

Berkhamsted Linksap Open 2024 

Amelie Haworth fought past the stubborn resistance of fellow rising star Mariam Eissa on an otherwise one-sided opening day at the Berkhamsted Linksap Open. 

Haworth and Eissa are two of the most talented young stars in the English game, having contested both the British Junior Championships final and the English Junior Championships final earlier this season. 

Haworth won both of those matches 3-0, but 15-year-old Eissa has since recorded her first few wins on the Challenger Tour and made life difficult for the Isle of Wight star here. 

Not only did Eissa take her opponent to five, but she would have undoubtedly been sensing an upset after taking a 2-1 lead following a tense third-game tiebreak. 

Haworth, though, showed her experience when it mattered, taking game four 11-3 before closing out victory in the fifth, setting up a second-round clash with fourth seed Isabel McCullough. 

The 45-minute tussle between Haworth and Eissa was the only match to not finish 3-0 on the day, though there was a big upset in the men’s draw nonetheless, as Samuel Osborne-Wylde continued his good run of form. 

The 20-year-old reached the The University Of Warwick Open final at the back end of June and will have his sights set on reaching another final, after knocking out No.3 seed Elliott Morris Devred 3-0. 

Osborne-Wylde will now face fifth Miles Jenkins, who joined top seed Perry Malik and second seed Owain Taylor in recording 3-0 wins on day one, with Malik beating AbdAllah Eissa, while Taylor got the better of Malik’s younger brother Heston. 

Kanso Men Open 2024 Presented By Houston Squash Club 

Unseeded Ahsan Ayaz caused a huge upset on day two at the Kanso Men Open Presented By Houston Squash Club, knocking out top seed Muhammad Asim Khan in a five-game duel. 

The two Pakistani players were facing off for the fifth time on the PSA Tour, but the first since 2022, with Asim Khan having won the two most recent of their previous four encounters. 

The 25-year-old also sat almost 150 places above Ayaz in the world rankings going into this match, but there was little to split them across the first two games, with Ayaz taking game one 11-9, and Asim Khan game two 11-8. 

The pair then split the next two games as well to take proceedings into a decider, but it was Ayaz – playing in his hometown of Houston – who came out on top, winning the fifth 11-5 to reach the quarter-finals. 

There, he will face Canada’s Liam Marrison, who beat Bermuda’s Taylor Carrick 3-1 in the second-longest match of the day. 

The only other match to go beyond three games was Mohamed Nabil’s 3-1 win over eighth seed Connor Turk, with second seed Alfredo Avila Vergara among those to win 3-0. 

City of Greater Shepparton International Open 2024 

In-form Norweigan Madeleine Hylland continued her quest for a second straight Challenger Tour title with a dominant display on day two of the City of Greater Shepparton International Open. 

The 23-year-old won last week’s Trident Homes South Island Open in New Zealand, and cruised through round two here in Australia, beating Maria-Rose Kalafatis. 

Her quarter-final opponent, though, was the unseeded Layla Sameh, who had upset top seed and home favourite Erin Classen in round one. 

But Hylland had no such troubles with the young Egyptian, winning 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 to set up a semi-final clash with India’s Urwashi Joshi. 

There will, however, be no place in the semi-finals for No.2 seed Sophie Fadeley, who was beaten 3-0 by unseeded Gigi Yeung of Macau. 

Yeung is ranked more than 200 places below Fadeley in the world, but made her superior experience count in a 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 win. 

In the men’s draw, Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal and France’s Matteo Carrouget remain on a collision course for another final. 

The pair met in the City of Greater Bendigo International final a few days ago, with Iqbal coming out on top, and they will face off for the trophy once more here should both win their semi-finals. 

No.2 seed Iqbal eased past compatriot Israr Ahmed in the last eight, while Carrouget upset third seed Benjamin Ratcliffe 3-1. 

You can stay up to date with all the results on the Challenger Tour here.