Odense Open: Draw Release

The draws have been released for the Odense Open, the Challenger 5 level event which is the qualifier for the 2020-2021 PSA World Championships.

The five-day tournament, which will take place from Tuesday, June 15 to Saturday, June 19, will see the winners of both the men’s and women’s draw qualify for the World Championships in Chicago, held in July.

This tournament will be only the second fully-international tournament on the Challenger Tour since March 2020, following the six-month suspension of the Tour due to COVID-19. There will be 19 nationalities represented across the two draws.

Japan’s Ryosei Kobayashi will be the top seed in the men’s draw, with the World No.68 aiming for his third straight victory on Tour, after winning the 2nd Sylvester Trophy and Open de Mulhouse already in 2021. He will also be aiming to secure his place at the World Championships for the second consecutive season.

World No.70 Faraz Khan, World No.75 Juan Camilo Vargas and World No.79 Moustafa El Sirty will be the rest of the top four seeds, with the two North Americans seeded to meet in the semi-finals.

Spain’s World No.72 Cristina Gomez will be the top seed for the women’s event, with ten other members of the top 100 in the World Rankings also featuring. Poland’s Karina Tyma and Scotland’s Alison Thomson will be seeded to meet in the last four, with England’s Lily Taylor expected to face the Spaniard in the semis.

For more information on the tournament visit the PSA World Tour website. You can also follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

You can also keep up with the live scores from the event here.

Men’s First Round Draw: Odense Open

[1] Ryosei Kobayashi (JPN) – [Bye]
Fergus Richards (SCO) v [9/16] Ben Smith (ENG)
[9/16] Aly Hussein (EGY) v [WC] Theis Houlberg (DEN)
[7] Robert Downer (ENG) – [Bye]
[8] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) – [Bye]
Quint Mandil (FRA) v [9/16] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY)
[9/16[ Matias Tuomi (FIN) v Aron Astray (ESP)
[4] Moustafa El Sirty (EGY) – [Bye]
[3] Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) – [Bye]
Julius Benthin (GER) v [9/16] Rory Stewart (SCO)
[9/16] Erik Jakobsson (SWE) v Martin Kegel (CRO)
[6] Farkas Balazs (HUN) – [Bye]
[5] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) – [Bye]
Simon Herbert (ENG) v [9/16] Owain Taylor (WAL)
[9/16] Joeri Hapers (BEL) v Ahmed Mohamed (EGY)
[2] Faraz Khan (USA) – [Bye]

Women’s First Round Draw: Odense Open
[1] Cristina Gomez (ESP) v Habiba El Dafrawy (EGY)
Lea Barbeau (FRA) v [6] Salma Eltayeb (EGY)
[5] Diana Garcia (MEX) v Amina El Rihany (EGY)

[WC] Klara Møller (DEN) v [4] Lily Taylor (ENG)
[3] Alison Thomson (SCO) v Jelena Dutina (SRB)
Georgia Adderley (SCO) v [7] Nour Aboulmakaraim (EGY)
[8] Hannah Chukwu (HUN) v Farah Momen (EGY)
Taba Taghavi (FRA) v [2] Karina Tyma (POL)