Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Four Events Across Three Countries

It’s a busy month for the PSA Challenger Tour, and that continues over the next seven days with four tournaments taking place around the world, with action coming from India, Kuwait and the United States.

In the week just gone, the Challenger 20 Nash Cup, a stalwart event on the PSA Challenger Tour, took place once again, with Zeina Zein and Nathan Lake coming out on top in London, Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, the Eastside Open and the Copa Mexico Temazcal continue, with the finals of both events taking place on Sunday, September 18.

Coming up over the next seven days, we have four tournaments, start with the 4th HCL SRFI Indian Tour – Chennai Leg, which kicks off on Monday, September 19. That is followed by two American events, in the St Louis Open presented by Mosby Building Arts and the GWC Squash House Challenger, before the 1st Kuwait International Squash Championship gets underway at the weekend.

Here is what is taking place on Tour this week…

4th HCL SRFI Indian Tour – Chennai Leg
The 4th edition of the HCL SRFI Indian Tour gets underway this week, with the opening event of the Tour taking place in Chennai. The Challenger 10 level competition will feature both a men’s and women’s event, and will take place at the Indian Squash Academy from Monday, September 19 to Friday, September 23.

Egypt’s Kenzy Ayman and Salma Eltayeb, who met in the opening round of the Open de France de Squash last week, will be the top two seeds for the women’s event, with compatriot Haya Ali and India’s Tanvi Khanna making up the rest of the top four seeds. Ona Blasco of Spain and Singapore’s Lim Jee Nee will represent the other two nations in the draw.

Another Egyptian will lead the men’s event, with Yassin Elshafei as the top seed. The Czech Republic’s Martin Svec will be the No.2 seed, while another Egyptian in Khaled Labib and the leading Indian in the draw, Abhay Singh, will make up the rest of the top four seeds. In total, there will be 23 Indians across the two draws, representing almost half of the competition’s entries in Chennai.

St Louis Open presented by Mosby Building Arts
The first of two tournaments taking place in the United States this week will be the St Louis Open presented by Mosby Building Arts, which will be held from Tuesday, September 20 to Saturday, September 24 and will feature a Challenger 10 level men’s event.

Scotland’s Rory Stewart and England’s Charlie Lee, who both featured on the glass court at Hangar 24 at the Open de France de Squash, will be the tournament’s top two seeds. Christopher Gordon will be aiming to be victorious on home soil, and he will be joined by England’s Curtis Malik, who is fresh off making the final at the Nash Cup last week.

Spaniard Edmon Lopez, the Czech Republic’s Daniel Mekbib, Egypt’s Seif Shenawy and Pakistan’s Noor Zaman round out the eight seeded players for the competition, while the likes of Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Nigeria will all be represented in the draw.

GWC Squash House Challenger
Friday, September 23 will see the start of the second American event on Tour this week, with the GWC Squash House Challenger running for four days in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The Challenger 5 level women’s tournament will be led by home hope Marina Stefanoni. The World No.58 will be one of five Americans featuring in the draw on home soil in the United States, with younger sister Lucie also among the eight seeded players for the competition.

Egypt’s Zeina Zein, who secured her biggest Tour title to date at the Nash Cup this weekend, will also be among those seeded, joining England’s Torrie Malik, India’s Akanksha Salunkhe, Mexico’s Diana Garcia, Colombia’s Laura Tovar and Canada’s Hannah Blatt.

1st Kuwait International Squash Championship
The final tournament of the Challenger Tour week will be the 1st Kuwait International Squash Championship, which will take place from Saturday, September 24 to Wednesday, September 28 in Hawalli, Kuwait.

Frenchman Auguste Dussourd, who made it to the quarter finals in Nantes last week, will be the tournament’s top seed, with Egypt’s Mazen Gamal, Hungarian No.1 Balazs Farkas and Qatari Syed Azlan Amjad making up the rest of the top four seeds.

England’s Tom Walsh and Hong Kong’s Chi Him Wong will also be among those seeded, while Kuwaiti No.1 Ammar Altamimi will be the leading home hope. He will be joined by three wildcards for the tournament, in Athbi Hamed, Abdullah Almezayen and Mohammad Almasoud.

This Week’s Schedule:
4th HCL SRFI Indian Tour – Chennai Leg: Monday, September 19 – Friday, September 23
St Louis Open presented by Mosby Building Arts: Tuesday, September 20 – Saturday, September 24
GWC Squash House Challenger: Friday, September 23 – Monday, September 26
1st Kuwait International Squash Championship: Saturday, September 24 – Wednesday, September 28