Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Three Countries, Three Events

The Challenger Tour continues this week with three more tournaments, taking place across three nations in two continents.

Four events took place on Tour over the last week, with England’s Sam Todd having taken the title on home soil at the St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club Open. Malaysia’s Wen Li Lai secured her second title in four weeks, with a victory at the Kinetic 5k Challenger in Florida.

Still ongoing are the PSA Cognac, where the finals will take place on Sunday afternoon, and the Torneo Challenger de Anivesario CDP, which is currently happening in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

This week, there will be three more tournaments. The Monte Carlo Classic, a Challenger 20 level women’s tournament, will be the first event. That will be followed by the Sutton Coldfield International and the HSC International Squash Open.

Here is what is taking place on Tour this week…

Monte Carlo Classic
The Challenger 20 level Monte Carlo Classic will be the first event of the week, and it is one with a very rich history, with several World No.1s having lifted the trophy in the past.

Laura Massaro is a three-time champion, with Cassie Campion, Vanesa Atkinson, Sarah Fitz-Gerald and Nouran Gohar also having their names on the trophy. Dutchwoman Natalie Grinham is the tournament’s only four-time winner, having taken victory in Monte Carlo in 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2012.

England’s Lucy Turmel will be the top seed at this year’s event, which will be held at the Monaco Squash Club from Monday, November 28 to Friday, December 2. The French du of Melissa Alves and Mare Stephan will join Finland’s Emilia Soini in making up the top four seeds.

England’s Torrie Malik and Alicia Mead, along with Egypt’s Rana Ismail and Menna Hamed, the latter of which is in the final of the PSA Cognac on Sunday afternoon, will also be seeded. Japan’s Akari Midorikawa, Singapore’s Au Yeong Wai Yhann and Brazil’s Bruna Marchesi Petrillo will be the other non-Europeans in the draw, along with Egyptian wildcard Nour Ramy.

Sutton Coldfield International
The only event of the week that will feature both a men’s and women’s event will be the Challenger 5 level Sutton Coldfield International which will take place at the Sutton Coldfield Squash Club from Tuesday, November 29 to Saturday, December 3.

Former Belgian No.1 Jan van den Herrewegen is a four-time champion of the tournament, including winning the event three times in succession from 2015-2017. Victor Crouin and Sam Todd are the other winners of the men’s event, while Alicia Mead won the inaugural women’s title in 2021.

This year’s event will see England’s Anna Kimberley and New Zealand’s Lwamba Chileshe as the top seeds, with the Kiwi’s Nations Cup team-mate, Kaitlyn Watts, among the seeds for the women’s event. Scotland’s Alison Thomson and Katriona Allen, along with the English duo of Asia Harris and Kiera Marshall will also be seeded.

Joining Chileshe in the men’s seeds will be his younger brother Temwa, and the Welsh trio of Emyr Evans, Elliott Morris Devred and Owain Taylor. England’s Simon Herbert, James each and Ben Smith make up the rest of the eight seeds for the men’s tournament.

HSC International Squash Open
The final event of the week on Tour will be the HSC International Squash Open, which will be held at the Houston Squash Club from Wednesday, November 30 to Sunday, December 4.

Pakistan’s Muhammad Asim Khan will be the top seed for the Challenger 10 level men’s competition, with the USA’s Andrew Douglas, Mexico’s Alfredo Avila and Canadian Nick Sachvie making up the rest of the top four seeds. Avila is a previous finalist in Houston, having made it to the final of the HSC Open – presented by Cotidie earlier this year.

Spencer Lovejoy will be the second American among the seeded eight players, joined by England’s Tom Walsh, Pakistan’s Muhammad Ashab Irfan and Egyptian Ibrahim Elkabbani. Three more Americans, including wildcards Arhan Chandra and Vandrick Inman-Benavente, will all be in action.

The third wildcard for the tournament will be Egypt’s Mohamad Zakaria, who is currently the youngest male player on Tour. The Egyptian will be 15 years and 69 days then the tournament gets underway on Wednesday. 

This Week’s Schedule
Monte Carlo Classic: Monday, November 28 – Friday, December 2
Sutton Coldfield International: Tuesday, November 29 – Saturday, December 3
HSC International Squash Open: Wednesday, November 30 – Sunday, December 4