Challenger Tour Round-Up: Ismail Wins Again, Perez Claims Glory on Home Soil

PSA Club Euro Sport 2024 

Spain’s Ivan Perez claimed victory on home soil at the PSA Club Euro Sport, beating Egypt’s Mohamed Nasser 3-1 in the final. 

Tenerife-born Perez, who now calls Barcelona home, had not dropped a game coming into this final, seeing off Hapun Vasile, Ameeshenraj Chandaran and Owain Taylor en route, and had beaten Nasser in their two previous encounters. 

The most recent of those came in the quarter-finals of the 2022 PSA Cognac, which was also the last time Perez got his hands on a Challenger Tour trophy, but he now has another to add to his cabinet after securing glory on the Catalonian coast. 

Perez did see his perfect record of not dropping a game ended in this final, losing game two 11-8 after winning the first by the same scoreline, but a third-game tie break would prove to be decisive. 

Perez took it 14-12 and then took control of the fourth, wrapping up the win in 76 minutes to clinch his fifth PSA Tour crown. 

WR Sturricks Design and Build Lexden RFC Open 2024 

Hana Ismail clinched her second straight PSA Tour title, winning the WR Sturricks Design and Build Lexden RFC Open in Colchester, England, while Malaysia’s Darren Pragasam claimed the men’s title. 

Egyptian 19-year-old Ismail won the PSA Challenger Tour Women’s Player of the Month award for February after scooping her maiden title at the East Glos Open, and she followed that with more success in this one. 

Like Perez in Spain, Ismail had not dropped a game all week coming into this final, and she carried that red-hot form into her matchup with Australia’s Erin Classen, winning all three games 11-5 to wrap up the victory. 

Pragasam – who helped UWE win the BUCS Premier League title this season – enjoyed a similarly dominant week to claim his second PSA Tour crown, more than two years after his first. 

The No.1 seed had needed two tie breaks to see off a stubborn Will Salter in the semi-finals, but found life more straightforward in the final, beating another Englishman, Jared Carter, 3-0 in just 35 minutes. 

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