Challenger Events
Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Willstrop & Khan in London Draw, Salazar Headlines Denver
The PSA Challenger Tour features another stacked scheduled this week, with seven events across five different continents.
The headline event is the London Open, a 20k men’s event and a 15k women’s, with a star-studded line-up on show.
Former World No.1 and 2021 champion James Willstrop is the No.4 seed in the men’s draw, and faces the possibility of taking on world junior champion Hamza Khan – a player 23 years his junior – in round two,
Khan must first get past Mohammad Syafiq Kamal in round one, in what is Khan’s first match since that historic day in Melbourne, when he became Pakistan’s first junior world champion for 37 years.
Willstrop is one of eight English players among the men’s seeds, with Adrian Waller topping the bill and George Parker at No.2.
The women’s draw features four seeded players targeting victory on home soil – Grace Gear, Millie Tomlinson, Alicia Mead and Torrie Malik.
Gear and Tomlinson are the No.2 and 3 seeds respectively, sitting below France’s Enora Villard in the draw, while Mead and Malik are at No.5 and 7.
Egypt’s Malak Khafagy sits among them all as the No.4 seed, looking to follow up her impressive run to the Ace Malaysia Squash Cup semi-finals last week, which moved her into the world’s top 50 for the first time.
By the time the London Open begins on November 15th, the latest leg of the Green Squash Tour will be well underway, with the Cognac Open having kicked off on November 12th.
A 12k tournament, the Cognac Open boasts three Egyptians among the seeds, led by the experienced Mazen Gamal.
Gamel reached the final of the PSA Gradignan the week before last and followed that up with a run to the semi-finals in Niort last week.
Daniel Poleshchuk is the No.2 seed, while Edwin Clain enters at No.3, hoping to become the second French player to win a tournament on this Green Squash Tour, following Baptiste Masotti’s success in the 3rd Open de Lagord.
Nearly 5,000 miles away, the Grizzly Bear Bourbon Mile High 360 Squash Classic takes centre stage in Denver.
Former World No.17 Cesar Salazar enters as the No.1 seed, targeting a second PSA Tour title of 2023 after glory at the RC Pro Series in April.
Faraz Khan is the No.2 seed, playing in his 11th tournament of the season after winning his 10th – the Richardson Wealth Van Lawn Open last week – while fellow American Andrew Douglas is at No.3, hoping to go one better than in the recent Local World LA Open, when he finished as runner-up to 16-year-old Mohamad Zakaria.
The other events this week take place in Vancouver, Sydney and the Brazilian city of Curitiba.
Mexico’s Alfredo Avila and England’s Perry Malik are the top two seeds at the UNDERHILL GEOMATICS Sport Central Open in Vancouver, where 21-year-old Salah Eltorgman will be targeting more home success.
The young Canadian won La Classique de Gatineau in October and reached the semi-finals in Vancouver last week, but will be targeting more success here as the No.4 seed.
Over in Syndey, Australia’s Sarah Cardwell will begin the Bondi Open as the overwhelming favourite in the women’s draw.
Cardwell is the No.1 seed and is ranked at No.80 in the world, more than 60 places higher than No.2 seed Sophie Fadaely, and will see this as a golden opportunity to claim her first PSA Tour title since 2015, after losing her last 11 finals.
Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri is the top seed in the men’s draw, with home hopes resting primarily on the shoulders of No.2 seed Nicholas Calvert.
Calvert is one of three Aussies among the men’s seedings, alongside Tate Zak Norris and Benjamin Ratcliffe.
There are also events in Curitiba, Brazil and at the David Lloyd Purley in London, where both the men’s and women’s British junior champions – Jonah Bryant and Amelie Haworth – will be on display.
You can stay up to date with all the results on the PSA Tour here.
