The St. James Open presented by Argent Bridge Advisors: Ray Makes Winning Return

Danielle Ray returned to PSA action in style, winning her first-round match 3-0 at The St. James Open presented by Argent Bridge Advisors. 

The recently-married Ray – previously known as Danielle Letourneau – has been out of action through injury since March, but cruised past young American Avery Park in the opening match of day one, winning 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 in just 20 minutes. 

Her reward is an all-Canadian clash with top seed Nicole Bunyan, the only match of round two that will see two players from the same country going head-to-head, with 13 different nationalities set to be represented among the 16 players on show.

Among them is Barbados’ Margot Prow, who recorded a big round-one win to knock out Egypt’s [9/16] seed Ingy Hammouda 3-1. 

Prow is a former top 100 player but had not played on the PSA Challenger Tour at all in 2023 before this event, seeing her ranking drop outside the top 350. 

She defied that ranking, though, to knock out Hammouda and set up a second-round match with No.5 seed Torrie Malik. 

The winner of that match will play either No.3 seed Ineta Mackevica or Ireland’s Hannah Craig, who came through in four games and 42 minutes against Malak Samir. 

Round two begins at 2pm ET/7pm GMT.

Results: Women’s Round Two 

Danielle Ray (CAN) bt Avery Park (USA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 (20m) 
Nour Heikal (EGY) bt Bruna Marchesi Petrillo (BRA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 (17m) 
Margot Prow (BAR) bt Ingy Hammouda (EGY) 3-1: 11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 12-10 (38m) 
Hannah Craig (IRL) bt Malak Samir (EGY) 3-1: 12-10, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6 (42m) 
Elise Romba (FRA) bt Menna Nasser (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 (24m) 
Wen Li Lai (MAS) bt Salma El Alfy (EGY) 3-1: 11-8, 12-14, 11-8, 11-8 (40m) 
Mary Mijas (GUA) bt [9/16] Karina Tyma (POL): Walkover