Expression Network LLC Kinetic Racquet Women’s 30k: Tournament Preview

The penultimate 30K of the season gets underway this weekend, as the Expression Network LLC Kinetic Racquet Women’s 30k takes center stage in Florida. 

16 of the world’s top 100 players are in action, including three top-30 players and several rising stars of US squash. 

Heading up the field as the No.1 seed is Wales’ Emily Whitlock, who goes into the event targeting her 20^th title on the PSA Tour, having reached the final of her last Challenger Tour event, the Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Irish Squash Open. 

Joining her in the top half of the draw is France’s Melissa Alves, who is actually the highest-ranked player in the draw at No.24, despite being the No.3 seed. 

Alves is seeded to meet Whitlock in the semi-finals, but to do that, she will potentially have to get past England’s Torrie Malik, the No.6 seed. 

Malik – a nominee for PSA Young Player of the Year – is in the same quarter of the draw as Alves, but faces a tricky path through to the last eight, with either Ireland’s Hannah Craig or 17-year-old Madison Ho set to be her second-round opponent. 

Ho is one of the most exciting young prospects in the US game and recently earned All-American honors following her freshman season at Stanford, in which she was also named Rookie of the Year in the Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference.

 Danielle Ray in action at the Kinetic Indoor Racquet Club, where this event will take place.

She enters this – her first PSA event of the season – as one of two wildcards, with fellow American teenager Riya Shankaran the other, while Marina Stefanoni and Riya Navani will also be hoping to make a splash on home soil. 

Like Ho, Stefanoni recently earned collegiate honors on the squash court, winning the prestigious Betty Richey Award after completing her senior year at Harvard, and has also been nominated for the PSA Challenger Tour Player of the Year award. 

She comes into this event as the No.5 seed, putting her on a collision course for a quarter-final matchup with second seed Jasmine Hutton, should results follow the seedings. 

For that to happen, Hutton would likely have to get past former World No.18 Danielle Ray in round two, should the Canadian beat Wales’ Ali Loke in round one. 

Navani, meanwhile, will be eyeing a successful week, having avoided both Stefanoni and the top three seeds in her quarter of the draw. 

The 18-year-old Californian, a runner-up in her most recent Challenger Tour event, will join Ho at Stanford from next season, but will have her attention firmly fixed on her first-round matchup with Egyptian lefty Ingy Hammouda here, with fourth seed Enora Villard awaiting the winner in round two. 

20-year-old Alexandrian duo Menna Walid – another nominee for Challenger Tour Player of the Year– and Nour Heikal are the No.7 and 8 seeds respectively, with Walid set to play either Akanksha Salunkhe or Nour Megahed in round two, while Heikal will face either Elise Romba or Alina Bushma. 

Action from the glass court – which will host four matches per day for the first two days and all matches from quarter-finals onwards – will stream live on the Squash TV Live Streaming YouTube channel. Click here to tune in, with action beginning at 12pm ET (5pm BST) on Sunday, May 26.