Challenger Tour Round-Up: McCullough, Irfan & Carrouget All Stage Big Comebacks

Berkhamsted Linksap Open 2024 

Isabel McCullough fought back from 2-0 down to beat fellow teenager Amelie Haworth on a thrilling day at the Berkhamsted Linksap Open. 

Day one had seen 15 of the 16 matches end 3-0, with Haworth’s 3-2 win over Mariam Eissa the only exception, but day two was a different story altogether. 

By the time McCullough and Haworth stepped on court for their quarter-final clash – the seventh match of the day – four of the six encounters had already gone the distance. 

Sofia Aveiro Pita and Jared Carter were the first two players to win in five, beating Ali Loke and Anthony Rogal respectively, before Hana Ismail held off a strong comeback from her University of Birmingham teammate Olivia Beasant. 

Top seed Perry Malik then booked his semi-final berth with a hard-fought five-game win of his own, coming from 2-1 down to beat compatriot Moah Meredith, with Haworth and McCullough stepping up next on court two. 

There was little to separate the two players across the first two games, but it was 18-year-old Haworth who took them both, 12-10, 11-9, to put herself in command. 

But 19-year-old McCullough – who shares coach Ben Ford with England No.1 Georgina Kennedy – turned the tide in her favour, reeling off three games in a row, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4, to reach the semi-finals. 

There, she will face top seed Saran Nghiem, who eased past Slovenia’s Nika Urh in the day’s first match, while in-form Sam Osborne-Wylde Wales’ Owain Taylor also won in three, beating Miles Jenkins and Aaron Allpress respectively. 

Kanso Men Open 2024 Presented By Houston Squash Club 

Local favourite Muhammad Ashab Irfan delighted the home crowd at the Kanso Men Open Presented By Houston Squash Club, battling back from 2-0 down to beat Jorge Luis Gomez Dominguez on quarter-finals day. 

20-year-old Ashab Irfan hails from Pakistan but spends much of his time training with Jahanzeb Khan in Houston, and had a healthy audience watching him in action on the new all-glass court, which will be used for the upcoming WSF World Junior Squash Championships.

He found himself starring down the barrel of defeat, though, losing the first two games 11-8, 12-10 to his Mexican opponent. 

But he got a strong foothold in the match by winning game three and four for the loss of just six points in total, before bringing up a match ball at 10-9 in the fifth. 

A 22-shot rally then ensued, before a Dominguez backhand went out to end proceedings, with Ashab Irfan dropping his racket to the floor and letting out a loud roar in celebration. 

The No.3 seed will now face Canadian seventh seed Liam Marrison, who came through a five-game tussle of his own, beating another local favourite – Ahsan Ayaz – in 65 minutes. 

The other semi-final will see fourth seed Veer Chotrani and second seed Alfredo Avila Vergara go head-to-head, after they beat Mohamed Nabil and Alejandro Reyes respectively. 

City of Greater Shepparton International Open 2024 

Matteo Carrouget and Nasir Iqbal will meet in a rematch of last week’s City of Greater Bendigo International final, after both players recorded semi-final wins at the City of Greater Shepparton International Open. 

Iqbal beat the Frenchman 3-0 to lift the trophy in Bendigo a few days ago, but Carrouget will now have his sights set on revenge, albeit only after overturning a two-game deficit in the last four. 

Playing top seed and home favourite Tate Norris, Carrouget lost the first two games before dramatically shifting the momentum in his favour with a bagel in game three. 

From there, he took game four 11-8 before closing out victory 11-5 in the fifth, denying Norris what would have been a maiden PSA Tour final. 

Iqbal later beat Canada’s Elliott Hunt to round out semi-finals day, which also saw Madeleine Hylland reach her second straight final. 

The Norwegian came from a game down to beat Indian third seed Urwashi Joshi 3-1, and will now take on the unseeded Gigi Yeung of Macau for the title. 

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