London Open Preview: Waller, Willstrop & Gear Among Home Favourites

The London Open gets underway this week at the Cumberland Squash Club, with 48 players descending on the UK’s capital across the men’s and women’s draws. 

The men’s event boasts a star-studded field which includes former World No.1 and 2021 champion James Willstrop, Commonwealth Games silver medalist and current World No.31 Adrian Waller, and reigning world junior champion Hamza Khan. 

Khan will be playing his first PSA Tour match since lifting the prestigious World Junior Championship trophy in June, becoming the first Pakistani player to do so for 37 years. 

He enters as a wild card and will play Miles Jenkins in round one, with No.3 seed Willstrop waiting in the next round. 

Willstrop was due to be the No.5 seed, but the withdrawals of Charlie Lee and George Parker have moved him up to the No.3 spot, thus avoiding the prospect of a quarter-final matchup with Waller and setting up a potential battle of the generations in the second round. 

The Marksman’s last PSA Tour outing in London was in the GillenMarkets Canary Wharf Classic earlier this year, when he thrilled a packed-out arena by taking Mohamed ElShorbagy the distance in round two. 

Lee was due to be the No.2 seed and Parker the No.3, meaning everyone other than top seed Waller has moved up two spots, with Ben Coleman and Mohammad Syafiq Kamal the biggest beneficiaries, moving into the seedings and getting first-round byes.

The women’s draw is headlined by top-50 players Enora Villard and Grace Gear, who are the No.1 and 2 seeds respectively. 

Gear is seeded below Villard but is actually ranked higher than the Frenchwoman, having put together an impressive run of form since the draw was made, including a win over Villard at the Grasshopper Cup. 

Millie Tomlinson, Alicia Mead and Torrie Malik are the other three English players among the seeds, while 18-year-old Asia Harris will be hoping to make a splash from day one having reached the final of her last two events. 

Rising Egyptian star Malak Khafagy is another name to watch out for as the fourth seed. 

Khafagy only turned 19 in July but has won four PSA Tour titles already in 2023 and reached her first PSA World Tour semi-final last week, knocking out fellow Egyptians Sana Ibrahim and Kenzy Ayman en route to the last four of the Ace Malaysia Squash Cup. 

You can watch live coverage of the London Open on the London Open squash YouTube channel.