Kinetic 3k Challenger Preview: Walsh Aiming For Top 100 Breakthrough

The first tournament of the week’s action on the Challenger Tour this week is the Kinetic 3k Challenger Presented by Sundip Murthy, which takes place from Wednesday, February 16 to Saturday, February 19.

The Kinetic Indoor Racquet Club in Boynton Beach, Florida plays host to the Challenger 3 level men’s event, which will feature nine different nationalities across the 16-strong draw.

England’s Tom Walsh will be the top seed for the tournament, in what will be his first appearance on Tour in 2022, and just three months after he secured his maiden Tour title.

The Englishman claimed the victory at the Exeter Golf and Country Club Open, his first after five years on Tour, and he admits that it was a relief to finally get over the line.


“[It was] a big relief to be honest. I felt I’d be playing at a good enough level to win a title for a while but kept losing out in the semi-final stage. So to get over the line in what was my first final was a massive bonus,” he explained.

Later that month, Walsh then played in the Wildcard Challenge at the Canary Wharf Classic, and although he missed out on a place in next month’s event, he took a lot from the experience of playing in front of a full crowd at East Wintergarden in London, a place that is special to him.


“Playing at Canary Wharf was a dream come true. It was the first professional event I saw live as a 12 year old in 2012,” he said.

“The atmosphere was the best I’ve ever played in with the venue being full come the latter stages of the match. Obviously it would’ve been massive for my ranking to have won and have this years wildcard but I learnt a lot from that which hopefully will prove more valuable in the future. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to compete of those big stages again soon.”


Walsh admits to not being in a good place at the start of last year, but he was able to come back stronger, and he believes that he is now in the right form to move towards the world’s top 100 in the near future.

“2021 was very much a year of two halves for me. I started it off not being in best of place with myself. However I worked really hard away from the sport to better myself and I think this is the main reason I am where I am today. I hope to continue this into 2022 and keep improving my squash,” the Englishman continued.

“I’ve had a good training block since my last PSA event at the beginning of December and am playing three back to back events in North America, starting with Kinetic, in February and March. If all things go well then I’d like to say it will happen soon [breaking the top 100]. But, if it doesn’t I’ll reset and go again.”

Walsh will be challenged by the Pakistani duo of Noor Zaman and Ahsan Ayaz, while compatriot Mark Broekman makes up the rest of the top four seeds for the Challenger 3 level tournament.

Colombia’s Andres Herrera joins the Mexican trio of Miled Zarazua, Jorge Gomez and Juan Carlos Gomez in the top eight seeds, with Argentina, Ecuador, Ireland, Peru and home nation United States also represented in the draw.

The event takes place from Wednesday, February 16 to Saturday, February 19 at the Kinetic Indoor Racquet Club in Boynton Beach, Florida, where Tom Walsh is the top seed for the tournament. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on *Twitter* and *Facebook* for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: Kinetic 3k Challenger Presented by Sundip Murthy
[1] Tom Walsh (ENG) v Stu Hadden (IRL)
Nicolas Tinajero (ECU) v [5] Miled Zarazua (MEX)
[8] Juan Carlos Gomez (MEX) v Alexander Arader (USA)
Yassin Emara (USA) v [4] Mark Broekman (ENG)
[3] Ahsan Ayaz (PAK) v Rafael Galvez (PER)
Jeremias Azana (ARG) v [7] Jorge Gomez (MEX)
[6] Andres Herrera (COL) v Muhammad Ibrahim Norman (PAK)
Alex Dartnell (USA) v [2] Noor Zaman (PAK)