2nd Sylvester Preview: Kobayashi Aiming To Climb The Rankings

The 2nd Sylvester Trophy gets underway this week, with 32 players aiming to take home the Challenger 5 level title at the Squash Arena in Uster, Switzerland.

Like all events on the Challenger Tour right now, this tournament has a restricted entry list, with only cross-border participation allowed. That meant that only players currently residing in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, and the host nation Switzerland, could enter.

Japan’s Ryosei Kobayashi, who currently lives in France, will be the top seed for the tournament, with the World No.70 coming into this event in a good run of form, including two wins in his last five events.

One of those came at the same venue for this week’s event, Squash Arena in Uster, as Kobayashi lifted the Swiss Open title in November. The Japanese No.1 is hoping that his knowledge of the court, and his good form will help him this week.

“Knowing the court and the people there helps to prepare the mental aspect of my game,” the World No.70 said.

“I am feeling good overall after two recent domestic tournaments in France. Some of my new ideas are slowly being adopted into my game since the beginning of the year.”

Kobayashi reached the quarter-finals of the PSA Challenger 10 Le Reve Nancy, and followed that with a last four result at the Cognac Open last month. He is aiming to keep that good form going, with his main goal being making a move up the World Rankings.

“The pressure is more from the fact that it is necessary for me to win the tournament again to bring my ranking higher,” he explained about being the top seed.

“[My goal] is to have two successful tournaments in March (this one and a $20k in India) and break into the top 65 next month.”

The event takes place from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 at the Squash Arena in Uster, Switzerland, where Ryosei Kobayashi is the top seed for the tournament. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

This event will also be live streamed, with the Squash Arena holding a glass court. Action from all four days of the event will be live on the PSA Challenger Tour YouTube channel.

First Round Draw: 2nd Sylvester Trophy
[1] Ryosei Kobayashi (JPN) v [WC] Liam Poessl (SUI)
Fabian Igelbrink (GER) v [13] Luca Zatti (SUI)
[10] David Maier (LIE) v Louai Hafez (SUI)
Nico Mathis (SUI) v [7] Miguel Mathis (SUI)
[5] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) v Nils Herzberg (GER)
[WC] Georg Stoisser (AUT) v [9] Jakob Kanel (SUI)
[11] Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) v [WC] Nero Harms (SUI)
[WC] Joel Siewerdt (SUI) v [3] Robin Gadola (SUI)
[4] Valentin Rapp (GER) v Baptiste Bouin (FRA)
Sandro Schmitter (SUI) v [16] Noah Mannhart (SUI)
[14] David Bernet (SUI) v Dennie Welte (GER)
Tate Harms (SUI) v [6] Cedric Kuchen (SUI)
[8] Nils Roesch (SUI) v [WC] Lasse Widmer (SUI)
Laszlo Godde (FRA) v [12] Robin Ebert (GER)
[15] Lukas Windischberger (AUT) v [WC] Fabian Seitz (SUI)
Marlon Bernegger (SUI) v [2] Aqeel Rehman (SUI)