Heroes Austrian Open: Tournament Preview

The first event of the week on the Challenger Tour will be the Heroes Austrian Open, which will take place in Graz from Wednesday, May 31.

The Challenger 10 level men’s tournament will run for five days, with the winner being crowned on Sunday afternoon. This will be the second edition of the event, which as first held in 2021. Moustafa El Sirty claimed the title, beating Yahya Elnawasany in an all-Egyptian final.

This year’s edition will also be held at the Heroes Squash-Bar in Graz, Austria. Egypt’s Mazen Gamal will be the tournament’s top seed, with Spain’s Bernat Jaume, India’s Abhay Singh and the Czech Republic’s Martin Svec as the rest of the top four seeds.

The English duo of Simon Herbert and Ben Smith will also be seeded, along with Japanese No.1 Ryunosuke Tsukue and the second Spaniard in the draw, Ivan Perez.

Along with Gamal, Tsukue and Singh, there will be just three other non-Europeans in action. Singh’s compatriot and doubles partner, Velavan Senthilkumar, will be the second Indian in action. Israel’s Daniel Poleshchuk and South African No.1 Dewald van Niekerk will also feature this week.

There will be four Austrians in the draw on home soil. The nation’s No.1, Aqeel Rehman, will be the leading Austrian, with Lukas Windischberger, Daniel Lutz and Jakob Dirnberger as the tournament’s wildcards. Lutz will be featuring on the Tour for only the second time.

The Heroes Austrian Open will take place from Wednesday, May 31 to Sunday, June 4 at the Heroes Squash-Bar in Graz, Austria. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: Heroes Austrian Open
[1] Mazen Gamal (EGY) – [Bye]
[WC] Lukas Windischberger (AUT) v [9/16] Emyr Evans (WAL)
[9/16] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) v Aqeel Rehman (AUT)
[7] Ben Smith (ENG) – [Bye]
[8] Ivan Perez (ESP) – [Bye]
Robert Downer (ENG) v [9/16] James Peach (ENG)
[9/16] Finnlay Withington (ENG) v Velavan Senthilkumar (IND)
[4] Martin Svec (CZE) – [Bye]
[3] Abhay Singh (IND) – [Bye]
[WC] Daniel Lutz (AUT) v [9/16] Dewald van Niekerk (RSA)
[9/16] Daniel Mekbib (CZE) v Miko Aijanen (FIN)
[6] Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) – [Bye]
[5] Simon Herbert (ENG) – [Bye]
[WC] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) v [9/16] Owain Taylor (WAL)
[9/16] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) v Jakub Solnicky (CZE)
[2] Bernat Jaume (ESP) – [Bye]