Irish Squash Open Preview: Fuller Aiming For Meaningful Victory

The Cannon Kirk GillenMarkets Irish Squash Open gets underway on Tuesday, and South Africa’s Alexandra Fuller is aiming for a momentous win at her adopted home club.

The South African will be making her fourth appearance at the tournament, and she will have the crowd right behind her. She was a finalist in 2019, and made the semi-finals last year, but will be looking to go better in 2023.

“I love playing the Irish Open. It feels like home the way the Irish people and members of Fitzwilliam support me. I am buzzing to play in front of them and hopefully I can put on a good performance throughout the whole tournament,” Fuller explained.

“There is always a great atmosphere in the club during the tournament and I can’t wait for the other players to also experience the warm, welcoming, friendly nature of the Irish contingent. 

“It would mean so much to me [to win]! I was in the final the year before and lost out to Nele Gilis. We will take it one match at a time and focus on the job at hand without looking too far ahead.

“The preparation for each match is always the same for me. I make sure I am ready, I feel energised, my head is clear and I’m excited to play. I feel relaxed playing in Dublin as I will be staying at home so I have my own comforts which is always nice.

“There is a difference between the major tournaments and the Challenger Tour tournaments, especially with the size of the draws but the calibre of players here for the men and the women is exceptional so no doubt we will be well looked after and have great matches throughout the week.”

Fuller will come into this event after featuring at the British Open in Birmingham. She defeated Canadian Nicole Bunyan in a five-gamer in the opening round, before losing out to defending champion Hania El Hammamy in the last 32.

Although she only made the second round of the sport’s oldest tournament, the South African is taking the positives. Despite the loss, she was happy with the way she played against the World No.3.

“I’ve had a good few weeks back in Dublin training with my coach Angus Kirkland, so I am feeling confident in my game at the moment,” she said.

“The focus for us is to have good performances through the tournaments. This way it takes pressure off the result and we just focus on playing well and delivering a good performance. 

“I feel like I have had a couple good performances in the last tournament, being the British Open, so I feel excited to play the Irish Open this week. This gives me another chance to perform well and play my best squash. 

“I had a great experience playing against Hania last week at the British Open. I was happy with the way I was playing and I feel even more excited to be able to play again to back it up at the Irish Open. I have watched my match back and there are some positive aspects of my game that came through which I am happy about. I have definitely come away from that match having learnt something.”

This will be Fuller’s last tournament before travelling to Chicago to take part in the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family. She is looking for a good week in preparation for the sport’s biggest tournament, which takes place at the start of May.

“Each match is another one in the bank. At the end of the day they all add up and this is what counts towards your experience. My focus in this tournament is to get a few matches under my belt and back up my matches with good performances,” the South African explained.

Fuller will be the No.3 seed in the women’s event, with Englands Jasmine Hutton as the top seed for the competition. Malaysia’s Aifa Azman and young Egyptian Fayrouz Aboelkheir will make up the rest of the top four seeds.

A European quartet will round out the eight seeds for the event. England’s Lucy Beecroft, Frenchwoman Enora Villard, Swiss No.1 Cindy Merlo and Finnish No.1 Emilia Soini will all be seeded for the competition.

Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng will be the top seed for the men’s draw in Dublin this week. Mexican No.1 Leonel Cardenas and US No.1 Shahjahan Khan will be in contention, with the English duo of Adrian Waller and George Parker taking the short flight over the Irish Sea to participate.

Egypt’s Aly Abou Eleinen, Frenchman Lucas Serme and Hong Kong’s Henry Leung will make up the rest of the top eight seeds in the men’s draw. The Irish duo of Sam Buckley and Sean Conroy will both be in action, with compatriots Breanne Flynn and Hannah McGugan as the two wildcards in the women’s event.

Five of the 12 players who secured their spots in Chicago after winning their third round matches at the PSA World Championships Qualifying Event will feature this week. Malaysia’s Aira Azman, Egypt’s Zeina Zein and Spanish No.2 Marta Dominguez Fernandez are the three from the women’s event, with England’s Curtis Malik and former World No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar taking part in the men’s event.

The event takes place from Tuesday, April 18 to Saturday, April 22 at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin, where Alexandra Fuller will be the No.3 seed for the women’s competition. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event. Live scores from the tournament will be available on the PSA World Tour website here.

Men’s First Round Draw: Cannon Kirk GillenMarkets Irish Squash Open
[1] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) – [Bye]
Sean Conroy (IRL) v [9/16] Rory Stewart (SCO)
[9/16] Curtis Malik (ENG) v Ben Coleman (ENG)
[8] Henry Leung (HKG) – [Bye]
[7] Lucas Serme (FRA) – [Bye]
Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) v [9/16] Faraz Khan (USA)
[9/16] Rui Soares (POR) v Mohammad Syafiq Kamal (MAS)
[3] Shahjahan Khan (USA) – [Bye]
[4] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) – [Bye]
Sam Buckley (IRL) v [9/16] Bernat Jaume (ESP)
[9/16] Charlie Lee (ENG) v Stuart MacGregor (ENG)
[5] Adrian Waller (ENG) – [Bye]
[6] George Parker (ENG) – [Bye]
Nilo Vidal (ESP) v [9/16] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
[9/16] Ben Smith (ENG) v Tom Walsh (ENG)
[2] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) – [Bye]

Women’s First Round Draw: Cannon Kirk GillenMarkets Irish Squash Open
[1] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) – [Bye]
[WC] Breanne Flynn (IRL) v [9/16] Saskia Beinhard (GER)
[9/16] Grace Gear (ENG) v [WC] Hannah McGugan (IRL)
[7] Cindy Merlo (SUI) – [Bye]
[5] Lucy Beecroft (ENG) – [Bye]
Marta Dominguez Fernandez (ESP) v [9/16] Katie Malliff (ENG)
[9/16] Georgia Adderley (SCO) v Nadia Pfister (SUI)
[4] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) – [Bye]
[3] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) – [Bye]
Xin Ying Yee (MAS) v [9/16] Marie Stephan (FRA)
[9/16] Cristina Gomez (ESP) v Alicia Mead (ENG)
[6] Enora Villard (FRA) – [Bye]
[8] Emilia Soini (FIN) – [Bye]
Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) v [9/16] Aira Azman (MAS)
[9/16] Zeina Zein (EGY) v Chan Yiwen (MAS)
[2] Aifa Azman (MAS) – [Bye]