Challenger Tour Weekly Preview: Five Events, One Qualifier

The Challenger Tour continues this week, with five tournaments taking place across the next seven days, including the third qualifying event for the 2021-2022 PSA World Championships.

The University of Birmingham Open follows on from the Odense Open and the Val de Reuil Normandie, with places for the winners at the sport’s premiere event in Cairo in May. The event, which will see action at a glass court built inside the city’s main train station, is one of four taking place on European soil this week.

The Annecy Rose Open is the biggest event in terms of prize money, as a Challenger 30 level tournament, with the Sekisui Open and the BRESS Breda Open also taking place this week. The final event on Tour over the next seven days will be the Rochester ProAm, which will be held in the United States.

Here is what is taking place across the next week on the Challenger Tour…

University of Birmingham Open
The biggest event of the week in terms of the end prize will be the University of Birmingham Open, which will take place from Tuesday, April 5 to Saturday, April 9, and will have a guaranteed place for the winners at the 2021-2022 PSA World Championships in Cairo.

England’s Robert Downer will be the top seed for the men’s event, with Hungarian No.1 Balasz Farkas, who already has a spot in Cairo confirmed following his win in Odense, as his nearest competitor. Joe Lee, Miles Jenkins and Simon Herbert are all seeded for the event on home soil.

Another English player, in Lily Taylor, will lead the women’s draw, with USA’s Marina Stefanoni and Egypt’s Nour Aboulmakarim as the nearest challengers. Alicia Mead and Katie Wells are among those seeded, and as part of a big group of Englishwomen in the draw.

Annecy Rose Open
In terms of rankings points, the Annecy Rose Open will be the biggest event on the Tour this week, with the Challenger 30 level tournament also taking place from Tuesday, April 5 to Saturday, April 9.

The RM Club in Annecy will play host to the tournament, with the Belgian duo of Nele and Tinne Gilis among the top three seeds. Egypt’s Nada Abbas joins them, while the likes of Jasmine Hutton, Milou van der Heijden, and Anna Serme will be among the top eight.

Enora Villard will be the leading Frenchwoman on home soil as the No.5 seed, and she will be joined by a whole host of compatriots, including Marie Stephan, Taba Taghavi and Elise Romba, along with wildcards Nino Lemarchand and Vanessa Florens.

Sekisui Open
The third tournament to take place from Tuesday, April 5 to Saturday, April 9 this week will be the Sekisui Open, with the Challenger 10 level men’s and women’s event taking place at the Sportpark Pilatus in Kriens, Switzerland.

Home favourite Cindy Merlo will be the top seed for the women’s draw, with the Egyptian quartet of Menna Hamed, Malak Khafagy, Salma Eltayeb and Nadeen Kotb all in action, and among the top seeds, with Marta Dominguez Fernandez, who has a spot booked in the World Championships, as one to watch.

Spain’s Edmon Lopez will be the top seed for the men’s draw, with Egypt’s Yahya Elnawasany, Portuguese No.1 Rui Soares, Czech Republic’s Martin Svec and Jakub Solnicky, and fellow Spaniard Ivan Perez, all in close competition.

Rochester ProAm
The only non-European based event this week will be the Rochester ProAm, which will take place across the University of Rochester and the Genesee Valley Club, from Wednesday, April 6 to Sunday, April 10.

The Challenger 5 level men’s event will see Czech Republic’s Daniel Mekbib as the top seed, just a few days after he was victorious at the White Oaks Classic in Canada. Egypt’s Aly Hussein, Jamaica’s Christopher Binnie and Englishman Mark Broekman make up the rest of the top four seeds.

BRESS Breda Open
Thursday, April 7 sees the start of the last event on Tour this week, with the Challenger 3 level BRESS Breda Open taking place at the BRESS Sportcenter in the Dutch city.

Belgium’s Joeri Hapers will be the top seed for the competition, with Spain’s Sergio Garcia Pollan, England’s Ben Sith and Ukrainian No.1 Valeriy Fedoruk all in close contention for the title come the end of the week.

This Week’s Schedule
University of Birmingham Open: Tuesday, April 5 – Saturday, April 9
Annecy Rose Open: Tuesday, April 5 – Saturday, April 9
Sekisui Open: Tuesday, April 5 – Saturday, April 9
Rochester ProAm: Wednesday, April 6 – Thursday, April 10
BRESS Breda Open: Thursday, April 7 – Thursday, April 10