Challenger Tour Round-Up: Heikal Upsets Bunyan, Home Favourites Start Well in Bristol

Richardson Wealth Van Lawn Open 2024 

Egypt’s Nour Heikal continued her good run of form with an impressive win over No.2 seed and home favourite Nicole Bunyan at the Richardson Wealth Van Lawn Open. 

Bunyan was the only Canadian left in the draw after round one in Vancouver, but she was unable to extend her week into the quarter-finals, losing 3-1 to the 20-year-old Egyptian.

The 3-1 scoreline does little to justify the hard-fought nature of the match, with all four games separated by less than three points. It was Heikal who ultimately prevailed, though, continuing her quest for a second successive PSA Tour final after finishing as runner-up in Ipswich a fortnight ago. 

Fourth seed Nadia Pfister also suffered a second-round upset, going down 3-2 to Japan’s Erisa Sano Herring. 

Herring is ranked 49 places below her opponent and was 2-1 down after three games, and then 5-1 down in the deciding fifth, before reeling off 10 of the next 13 points to book a quarter-final meeting with No.7 seed Menna Walid. 

Walid and Heikal were two of three Egyptians to reach the last eight, alongside the in-form Rana Ismail. 

Oasis Pools & Spas Manitoba Open 2024 

Edgar Ramirez and Henrik Mustonen ensured it would not be a clean sweep of seeds in the Oasis Pools & Spas Manitoba Open quarter-finals, beating Christopher Gordon and Joseph White respectively. 

Former World No.35 Mustonen has been enjoying somewhat of a resurgence this season, and added to that with a comfortable win over Australian No.5 seed Joseph White in the day’s last match on court one. 

Ramirez, meanwhile, knocked out No.7 seed Christopher Gordon 3-1, and will now play England’s Ben Smith – one of four players to win 3-0 – for a place in the semi-finals. 

Top seed Tsz Kwan Lau is also through, albeit only after a topsy-turvy encounter with Brazil’s Diego Gobbi. 

Lau was completely outplayed in game one, earning himself just a solitary point, but he fought his way back into the match, eventually winning 3-1 with the help of a pair of tiebreaks. 

University of the West of England The Bristol Open 2024 

Home favourites Wai Yhann Au Yeong, James Peach and Ameeshenraj Chandaran all made emphatic starts to their quest for glory at the University of the West of England The Bristol Open. 

Wai Yhann and Chandaran represent Singapore and Malaysia respectively, but both play their squash at the University of the West of England, while Peach also calls Bristol home. 

The trio all had first-round byes but were on court on day one nonetheless, with rounds one and two both being played. 

Women’s No.1 seed Wai Yhann was the first of them to get her campaign underway, sweeping aside Scotland’s Carys Jones in 22 minutes, and she was soon followed into the quarter-finals by the left-handed Peach, who beat the Netherlands’ Sam Gerrits by the same scoreline. 

Men’s No.2 seed Chandaran then ensured he’d be in the last eight too, knocking out England’s Jack Mitterer 3-0. 

Earlier in the day, wildcards Antoine Riehl and Lukasz Marcinkowski had recorded impressive wins in round one, before losing out to Mitchell Kahnert and Rhys Evans respectively. 

Yellow Dots Squash Open 2024 

Oladipupo Ayomide continued his impressive run at the Yellow Dots Squash Open, knocing out a second consecutive seeded player to reach the semi-finals. 

Ayomide had beaten No.5 seed Samson Asade in round one, and backed that up with a 3-0 win over fifth seed Shedrack Abe to reach the last four. 

There, he will play No.1 seed Gabriel Olufunmilayo, while the second semi-final will see Faruq Sulaimon and Kehinde Samuel Temitope go head-to-head. 

The women’s semi-finals, meanwhile, will see feature the top four seeds, with Rofiat Abdulazeez, Busayo Olatunji, Isaac Blessing and Favour Utukpe all coming through their quarter-final matches. 

You can see results and fixtures from across the Challenger Tour here.