Open International Niort Venise Verte: Tournament Preview 

The first of five tournaments taking place on the Challenger Tour this week will be the Open International Niort Venise Verte.

The Challenger 20 level men’s event will take place at Squash du Marais in Niort, France, and will be one of two French events being held over the next seven days.

Home favourite Baptiste Masotti and Auguste Dussourd, the latter of which is coming off a victory at the Open Lagord Tennis Squash this weekend, will be the top two seeds for the competition.

Spain’s former World No.5 Borja Golan and England’s Declan James will be joined by Portuguese No.1 Rui Soares, Scotland’s Rory Stewart, Egypt’s Ibrahim Elkabbani and Spaniard Ivan Perez in the top eight seeds for the event.

An English quintet of Tom Walsh, Simon Herbert, Robert Downer, James Peach and Ben Smith will be among the 9/16 seeds, while there will be two French wildcards for the event. Paul Gonzalez and Laouenan Loaec will be taking part on home soil this week.

The event takes place from Monday, November 7 to Friday, November 11 at Squash du Marais in Niort, France. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: Open International Niort Venise Verte
[1] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) – [Bye]
Marek Panacek (CZE) v [9/16] Jakub Solnicky (CZE)
[9/16] Tom Walsh (ENG) v Sandeep Ramachandran (IND)
[6] Rory Stewart (SCO) – [Bye]
[7] Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY) – [Bye]
Augusto Ortigosa (ESP) v [9/16] James Peach (ENG)
[9/16] Simon Herbert (ENG) v Joeri Hapers (BEL)
[4] Declan James (ENG) – [Bye]
[3] Borja Golan (ESP) – [Bye]
[WC] Laouenan Loaec (FRA) v [9/16] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR)
[9/16] Ben Smith (ENG) bt [WC] Paul Gonzalez (FRA)
[8] Ivan Perez (ESP) – [Bye]
[5] Rui Soares (POR) – [Bye]
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) v [9/16] Viktor Byrtus (CZE)
[9/16] Robert Downer (ENG) v Yuri Farneti (ITA)
[2] Auguste Dussourd (FRA) – [Bye]