Challenger Tour Round-Up: Eltorgman Through in Canada, Malik & Haydon Set Up Costa Rica Clash

Richardson Wealth Van Lawn Open 

Salah Eltorgman kicked off his quest for glory on home soil, cruising through his round-one match against Egypt’s Abdul-Rahman Elnady at the Richardson Wealth Van Lawn Open. 

Eltorgman is the highest-ranked Canadian player in the field, and took just half an hour to book his spot in round two, seeing off the Egyptian 11-2, 11-6, 11-5. 

Fellow Canadian Liam Marrison is also in the hat for round two, where he will play No.2 seed Faraz Khan. 

Like Eltorgman, Marrison spent exactly 30 minutes on court in his 3-0 win over Mexico’s Miled Zarazúa, but there was no joy for fellow Canadian [9/16] seed Connor Turk. 

Turk looked to be heading for a second-round matchup with No.1 seed Nathan Lake at two games up against Andes Ling, but the Hong Kong player staged an impressive comeback to deny the Canadian a home victory. 

SACC Costa Rica Open 

The SACC Costa Rica Open also got underway yesterday, with a restructured draw following a number of withdrawals. 

The women’s draw was reduced to 15 players, meaning top seed Ineta Mackevica got a bye straight through to round two. 

No.2 seed Torrie Malik was in action, procuding an impressive display to knock out Jimena Gallegos Pozuelo. 

The 19-year-old won 11-0, 11-5, 11-1, but the restructured draw means she will now face fourth seed Alex Haydon in the last eight. 

Haydon and Malik were two of five women’s seeds to win on day one, with Caroline Fouts, Winifer Bonilla and Habiba Hani also progressing. 

In the men’s draw, only one of the eight seeds lost out on day one – Cory McCartney. 

The Canadian No.6 seed was beaten 3-1 by Mexico’s Alfredo Lopez, who will now play Sanjay Jeeva in the quarter-finals. 

RGSA Open De Squash 2023 

Local player Ronivaldo Conceição caused one of two big upsets on day one of the RGSA Open De Squash, beating [9/16] seed Pedro Rozes to reach round two. 

Conceição does not have a ranking on the PSA Tour, but stormed to victory over the World No.593. 

The other [9/16] seed to crash out was Matheus Carbonieri, going down 3-1 to another unranked player in Junior Christovam. 

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