International Tournament Madeira Island: Tournament Preview

The International Tournament Madeira Island takes place this week, with the first round action beginning yesterday and the final taking place on Sunday September 23.

In addition to a share of the $11,000 prize fund on offer, the winner of the PSA Challenger Tour event will also secure themselves a place at the prestigious PSA World Championships, which will be held in Chicago next year.

Following the announcement of the new PSA structure at the beginning of April, the 2018/19 PSA World Championships – which will become the first tournament in professional squash to offer a prize purse of $1 million – will be held in February and will feature a 64-player draw.

The draw will consist of 56 PSA entrants and a wildcard, with the other places being granted to winners of selected ‘qualifier’ tournaments on the PSA Challenger Tour, of which the International Tournament Madeira Island is one, and WSF invitees.

United States World No.50 Todd Harrity will lead the men’s draw, with the top eight seeds in the tournament receiving a bye into the second round. Harrity will face Belgium’s World No.144 Joeri Hapers in round two.

At the opposite end of the draw is England’s World No.53 Joshua Masters, who will line up against compatriot and World No.218 Stuart Macgregor.

Also taking part in the draw is Belgium’s World No.75 Jan Van Den Herrewegen and India’s World No.68 Mahesh Mangaonkar, who last week claimed the Remeo Open title after he defeated top seed Finland’s Olli Tuominen.

England’s World No.103 Patrick Rooney, Portugal’s World No.98 Rui Soares, India’s World No.108 Abhay Singh and France’s World No.121 Benjamin Aubert complete the top eight seeds at the tournament.

2018 International Tournament Madeira Island – Round One Results
Joeri Hapers (BEL) bt Tess Jutte (NED) 3-1: 7-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-7 (57m)
Matias Tuomi (FIN) bt Ben Coates (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 (23m)
Vini Rodrigues (BRA) bt Roee Avraham (ISR) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 (26m)
Sajad Zareian Jahromi (IRI) bt [WC] Chua Man Chin (SGP) 3-1: 9-11, 11-9, 11-1, 11-6 (38m)
Valentin Rapp (GER) bt [WC] Charlie Cowie (ENG) 3-1: 6-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-7 (33m)
[WC] Claudio Pinto (POR) bt Alex Noakes (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 (40m)
Emyr Evans (WAL) bt David Zeman (CZE) 3-1: 11-5, 11-3, 10-12, 11-5 (45m)
Stuart MacGregor (ENG) bt Roshan Bharos (NED) 3-0: 11-3, 11-3, 12-10 (51m)

Draw – Second Round
[1] Todd Harrity (USA) v Joeri Hapers (BEL)
Matias Tuomi (FIN) v [7] Abhay Singh (IND)
[6] Rui Soares (POR) v Vini Rodrigues (BRA)
Sajad Zareian Jahromi (IRI) v [4] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND)
[3] Jan Van Den Herrewegen (BEL) v Valentin Rapp (GER)
[WC] Claudio Pinto (POR) v [5] Patrick Rooney (ENG)
[8] Benjamin Aubert (FRA) v Emyr Evans (WAL)
Stuart Macgregor (ENG) v [2] Joshua Masters (ENG)