Madeira International: Tournament Preview

The final tournament on the Challenger Tour this week will be the Challenger 10 and 3 level Madeira International, which will take place from Wednesday, September 7 to Sunday, September 11 on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

The Galo Active Health Club will play host to the tournament, which will feature a men’s Challenger 10 level draw, where Portugal’s No.1 Rui Soares will be aiming to go one better than last year. He lost out in last year’s final to Egypt’s Moustafa El Sirty, but will be the top seed this time round, and aiming for another Challenger Tour crown.

Egypt’s Aly Abou Eleinen, Hungarian No.1 Balazs Farkas and Englishman Ben Coleman will be the other members of the top four seeds, in a 24-man draw that will feature players from 13 nationalities, including Colombia, Israel and Brazil.

Colombian Ronald Palomino, who took his first win on the PSA World Tour at the CIB Zed Squash Open a couple of weeks ago, is joined by Egypt’s Ibrahim Elkabbani, Spaniard Ivan Perez and Welshman Emyr Evans in rounding out the top eight seeds in the men’s competition.

England’s Richie Fallows will be appearing on Tour for only the second time in 2022, while the Irish duo of Sean Conroy and Sam Buckley, the nation’s leading two male players, will meet in the opening round of the tournament.

For the first time, the Madeira International will also feature a women’s event, with 16 players vying to win the Challenger 3 level crown on the Portuguese island. Germany’s Katerina Tycova will be the top seed for the event, and she will be aiming to capture her first Tour title come the end of the weekend.

Scotland’s Katriona Allen and England’s Kiera Marshall will both be among the seeds, along with the French duo of Lea Barbeau and Ella Galova, Ukraine’s Anastasiia Kostiukova and another German in Aylin Gunsav.

Sofia Aviero Pita, the Portuguese No.1, will be the leading home favourite in the draw as the No.5 seed, but she will be joined by compatriots Catarina Nunes and Mariana Ventura Martins, who will both be aiming to cause upsets in front of a home crowd.

The event takes place from Wednesday, September 7 to Sunday, September 11 at the Galo Active Health Club in Madeira. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

Men’s First Round Draw: Madeira International
[1] Rui Soares (POR) – [Bye]
Sam Buckley (IRL) v [9/16] Sean Conroy (IRL)
[9/16] Simon Herbert (ENG) v Perry Malik (ENG)
[6] Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY) – [Bye]
[7] Ivan Perez (ESP) – [Bye]
Javier Martin (ESP) v [9/16] Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP)
[9/16] Richie Fallows (ENG) v Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE)
[4] Ben Coleman (ENG) – [Bye]
[3] Balazs Farkas (HUN) – [Bye]
Marek Panacek (CZE) v [9/16] Stuart MacGregor (ENG)
[9/16] Jakub Solnicky (CZE) v Vinicius Leao Rodrigues (BRA)
[8] Emyr Evans (WAL) – [Bye]
[5] Ronald Palomino (COL) – [Bye]
Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) v [9/16] Valentin Rapp (GER)
[9/16] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) v Nilo Vidal (ESP)
[2] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) – [Bye]

Women’s First Round Draw: Madeira International
[2] Katriona Allen (SCO) v Catarina Nunes (POR)
Mariana Ventura Martins (POR) v [7] Anastasiia Kostiukova (UKR)
[5] Sofia Aviero Pita (POR) v Bruna Marchesi Petrillo (BRA)
Jasmin Kalar (ENG) v [4] Kiera Marshall (ENG)
[3] Lea Barbeau (FRA) v Kincso Szasz (ROM)
Maria Tovar (COL) v [8] Aylin Gunsav (GER)
[6] Ella Galova (FRA) v Nour Ramy (EGY)
Ellie Jones (ENG) v [1] Katerina Tycova (GER)