Challenger Tour Round-Up: Knudsen Rolls On, Omlor Avoids Upset

World No.265 Matias Knudsen continued his remarkable run with a third straight upset at the I SPAC Open in Brazil. 

The unseeded Colombian had already beaten French duo Laouenan Loaec and Macéo Levy to reach the quarter-finals and continued to be the scourge of French players in the last eight, sinking No.2 seed Toufik Mekhalfi. 

The 23-year-old has not lost a match since May, winning his last two tournaments to climb nearly 200 places in the rankings, and will be eyeing another victory against third seed Josue Enriquez in the semi-finals. 

In the top half of the draw, No.1 seed Rowan Damming booked his spot in the final four with a comfortable 3-0 win over Diego Gobbi. 

Elsewhere, the top two seeds in both the men’s and women’s draw made it safely through to the quarter-finals of the Schräglage Squash Open. 

Yannik Omlor and Valentin Rapp avoided potential banana skins on the men’s side, beating young German pair Finn Koch and Fabian Igelbrink – who had both caused upsets on day one – respectively. 

Meanwhile, Nadia Pfister and Au Yeong Wai Yhann – the top seeds in the women’s event – both dropped a game en route to their wins, but remain on a collision course for the final nonetheless.

You can watch live coverage of centre court at the Schräglage Squash Open on the PSA Live Streaming YouTube channel.

The field is far more open at the BDO Namibian Open, where the top two seeds in the men’s draw, plus two of the top three in the women’s side, are out. 

At least one Egyptian will feature in the women’s final, as No.1 seed Menna Walid plays No.4 seed Amina El Rihany in the first semi-final, and the winner could be joined by another, if Mariam Ashraf can get past Nigeria’s Isaac Blessing. 

Should Blessing progress, though, there remains a possibility of a Nigerian double, with Gabriel Olufunmilayo and Adegoke Onaopemipo featuring in the men’s semi-finals.

You can see all the results from this week’s PSA Challenger Tour events here.

Photo credit: Christian Lortat