Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Action From Japan and Spain

The Challenger Tour continues this week with action coming from two tournaments, the Santiago Open in Spain and the Aida Sekkei Greetings Squash Championships in Japan.

The sole event on the Tour last week was the E.M. Noll Classic, a World Championships qualifier in previous years. This year’s event was a Challenger 5 and 10 level tournament, with England’s Sam Todd and Jasmine Hutton taking their respective titles.

The first event of this week’s Challenger Tour action will be the first to be held in Spain this year, with the Santiago Open beginning on Tuesday, February 8. The Aida Sekkei Greetings Squash Championships starts a day after that finishes, with action getting underway in Saitama on Friday, February 11.

Here is what is taking place on the Challenger Tour this week…

Santiago Open
The Challenger 5 level Santiago Open takes place from Tuesday, February 8 to Thursday, February 10 at the Gimnasio Squash Santiago, where the 16-man draw will be restricted to domestic entrants.

Only those from Spain have been allowed to participate in the event, with World No.84 Ivan Perez as the top seed. World No.91 Hugo Varela will be his nearest challenger for the title, with both aiming for their second victory of the season.

Former World No.48 Edmon Lopez is amongst the top four seeds for the tournament, while Sergio Garcia Pollan, Augusto Ortigosa, Marc Lopez, Nilo Vidal and Javier Martin, all members of the world’s top 200, will be in action.

Aida Sekkei Greetings Squash Championships
Greetings Squash Saitama plays host to the Aida Sekkei Greetings Squash Championships this week, with action at the Challenger 5 and 3 level tournament beginning on Friday, February 11.

Former World No.79 Tomotaka Endo will be the top seed for the men’s event, in what will be only his third appearance on Tour since the end of 2019. Also in a similar situation will be Naoki Hayashi, the No.2 seed, featuring for only the fifth time in the last two years. Ryunosuke Tsukue, who has won his last two events on Tour, will also be among those challenging for the crown come Sunday.

World No.273 Risa Sugimoto will be the top seed for the women’s Challenger 3 level draw, with 16-year-old Akari Midorikawa and 17-year-old Kurumi Takahashi as her nearest competition for the title.

This Week’s Schedule
Santiago Open: Tuesday, February 8 – Thursday, February 10
Aida Sekkei Greetings Squash Championship: Friday, February 11 – Sunday, February 13