South Western Women’s Open: Preview & How To Watch Live

The inaugural South Western Women’s Open gets underway tomorrow from the Houston Squash Club in the United States. This is the first time that the club has hosted a women’s event with 24 women looking to take home the Gold level title.

World No.1 Nouran Gohar tops the draw and will be looking to start the season strongly to firmly keep hold of her World No.1 status. Gohar won seven titles last year and after receiving a bye in round one she will start her season against either Ka Yi Lee or Tomato Ho, both from Hong Kong.

Home favourite and USA No.1 Amanda Sobhy is the event’s No.2 seed and will be hopeful that the home crowd can provide something extra to see her lift the title. Sobhy started last season in the perfect way, by winning her first event, the Oracle NetSuite Open and will be determined to start strongly again. She will face an Egyptian in round two as Hana Ramadan and wildcard Fayrouz Aboelkheir will battle it out in round one.

Commonwealth Gold medalist Georgina Kennedy will be full of confidence heading into the new season after claiming the top prize in the summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She has moved into a top-four seeded position after the withdrawal of Joelle King and will play one of her compatriots in her opening match as Jasmine Hutton and Lucy Beecroft face off for the round two spot.

Recent CIB Zed Open winner and PSA player of the month Nour El Tayeb will be a huge danger to the top seeds in the event. She comes in as the No.7 seed and will play either Olivia Clyne or Ineta Mackevica in round two. She is then seeded to face Kennedy in the quarter finals in a highly anticipated clash.

There is plenty more USA interest in the draw as Sabrina Sobhy, Olivia Clyne and Haley Mendez all feature in round one action, whilst No.6 seed Olivia Fiechter receives a bye and is already in round two. 

Play starts at 14:00 (GMT-5) in Houston, Texas with eight matches taking place throughout day one all on the glass court.

All the action from the South Western Women’s Open will be shown live on SQUASHTV.

For more information on the tournament, visit the PSA World Tour’s website or follow the PSA World Tour on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

South Western Women’s Open: Updated Draw
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) [Bye]
Ka Yi Lee (HKG) v [9/16] Tomato Ho (HKG)
[9/16] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) v Emilia Soini (FIN)
[6] Olivia Fiechter (USA) [Bye]
[8] Emily Whitlock (WAL) [Bye]
Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) v [9/16] Sana Ibrahim (EGY)
[9/16] Mariam Metwally (EGY) v Nicole Bunyan (CAN)
[3] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) [Bye]
[4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) [Bye]
Lucy Beecroft (ENG) v [9/16] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) 
[9/16] Olivia Clyne (USA) v Ineta Mackevica (LAT)
[7] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) [Bye]
[5] Salma Hany (EGY) [Bye]
Haley Mendez (USA) v [9/16] Nadine Shahin (EGY)
[9/16] Hana Ramadan (EGY) v [WC] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY)
[2] Amanda Sobhy (USA) [Bye]