Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Five Events, Four Continents

There is plenty of action on the PSA Challenger Tour this week, with tournaments taking place across four different continents, and on every day of the week!

The Challenger Tour visits Egypt, Hong Kong, Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland over the next seven days, with all five events being restricted to domestic entries due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chairman Cup will take place in Hong Kong, and will be a Challenger 10 level tournament for both men and women, while the Swiss Open will be a women’s event of the same stature.

The Egyptian Challenger Tour #1 will be a Challenger 5 level event for both men and women, while both the Royal Oak Open and the Squash Eredvisie – Speelronde 3, will both be Challenger 3 tournaments.

Chairman Cup
The rescheduled Chairman Cup will take place this week in Hong Kong, having been originally planned to have been played earlier in the year.

It will be a Challenger 10 level tournament that will be played at the Hong Kong Squash Centre, with Tsz Fung Yip and Tze Lok Ho as the top seeds for the tournament.

Swiss Open
The other Challenger 10 level tournament this week comes from Uster, with the Swiss Open being played at the same venue as last week’s 2nd Sylvester Trophy.

It is a cross-border participation event, with players from France, Austria and Germany also in the draw, along with Swiss player featuring on home soil, with five of the top 75 in the World Rankings in action.

The French duo of Enora Villard and Marie Stephan, along with the Swiss trio of Cindy Merlo, Ambre Allinckx and Nadia Pfister, will be the top five seeds for the tournament, which will be streamed LIVE on the PSA Challenger Tour YouTube channel.

Egyptian Challenger Tour #1
The first event of the week is a Challenger 5 level tournament for both men and women, which comes from the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt.

The Egyptian Challenger Tour #1 features five players inside the top 100 in the World Rankings, with Moustafa El Sirty heading up the men’s draw, while Hana Moataz, the World No.75, will be the top seed in the women’s event.

Royal Oak Open
The first of two Challenger 3 tournaments to take place at the weekend will be the Royal Oak Open, which will come from Auckland, New Zealand.

The Royal Oak Racquets Club will play host to a 16-strong women’s draw, with World No.98 Emma Millar and World No.111 Abbie Palmer as the favourites for the title.

Squash Eredivisie – Speelronde 3
The last event of the week comes from the Netherlands, with the Squash Eredivisie – Speelronde 3 being held at the Frans Otten Stadium in Amsterdam.

It is a domestic-only event, with only players currently residing in the Netherlands allowed to enter. Belgium’s Joeri Hapers, the World No.138, will be the top seed for the tournament.

The action will be live-streamed on the Squash Eredivisie website from Saturday morning, all the way through to the final on Sunday.

This Week’s Schedule
Egyptian Challenger Tour #1: Monday 15 – Friday 19
Chairman Cup: Wednesday 17 – Saturday 20
Royal Oak Open: Friday 19 – Sunday 21
Swiss Open: Friday 19 – Sunday 21
Squash Eredvisie – Speelronde 3: Saturday 20 – Sunday 21