Defending PSA Life Time Fitness Houston Open champion Mazen Hesham made it two titles in two years at Life Time Fitness Houston, Texas, defeating England’s Adrian Grant to collect the largest prize money purse of the Egyptian’s young career.

In 2014, second-seeded Hesham took home the inaugural $15,000 Life Time Fitness Houston Open title against top-seeded South African Stephen Coppinger in the final.

The 2015 iteration saw the prize money purse increase to $25,000 with both Coppinger, once again seeded first, and Hesham, seeded third, returning.The twenty-one-year-old Egyptian set up a repeat of the 2014 final against Coppinger in the semis, which resulted with an identical result, Hesham winning in four games.

England’s Adrian Grant reached the final via an arduous route, twice coming back from two games down to win in five games during the round of sixteen and semifinals. Peru’s world junior champion Diego Elias pulled off the upset of the tournament in the first round, knocking out second-seeded Alister Walker. Elias met Grant in the semifinals where he held a two-game lead 11-9, 11-9, but the English veteran pulled off another comeback to win the final three games 11-8, 12-10, 11-9.

Grant’s semifinal heroics took its toll on the thirty-four-year old, however, as Hesham cruised to the title in a three-game final Sunday.

The U.S. Pro Series and Life Time Grand Prix resumes next week in the form of the $10,000 Life Time Fitness Las Vegas Open.

Report courtesy of the PSA.

Mexican veteran Eric Galvez won back-to-back PSA World Tour titles for the first time in his career when he beat England’s Lewis Walters in the final of the Charlotte Open, the inaugural PSA Challenger 5 squash event at Charlotte Squash Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Seeded three, the thirty-one-year-old from Puebla arrived in North Carolina direct from New York, where he picked up the Rochester ProAm title, his first of the year.

Former Mexican number one Galvez rolled back the years in the Charlotte semifinals to upset Tom Ford, the twenty-one-year-old top seed from England, to reach the twenty-eighth Tour final of his career.

Walters, the U.S.-based fourth seed from Nottingham, survived an all-English affair to make the ninth final of his career—needing more than an hour to see off unseeded Reuben Phillips.

“The final of the Charlotte Open was the longest and most excellent match of the tournament,” said tournament promoter Connie Barnes. “The wily Walters and the ‘pirate’ Galvez were gladiators as they moved around the court – the energy for and from the crowd, most of whom had not seen a PSA match before, was palpable.”

It was nip and tuck throughout the 97-minute battle which went the full distance, with Galvez ultimately prevailing in the decider to win 11-6, 12-14, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8.

“Congratulations to Lewis and thanks to everyone for coming here on a usual family day,” said Galvez after securing the 13th PSA World Tour title of his career – and establishing a new career-high eight-match winning streak. “I hope to see a bigger and better event next year!”

Walters echoed the Mexican’s thanks to the crowd: “And thanks too to Eric for the final match, even if he did win! We all hope Connie will continue putting on these tournaments. Thank also to my sponsors MB-Nottingham, Salming and Prince Squash.”

Professional squash is heading to North Carolina for the first time this week in the form of the inaugural Charlotte Open, a $5,000 U.S. Pro Series tournament, hosted at the recently-opened Charlotte Squash Club.

The four-court facility opened its doors on World Squash Day, October 18, last fall as the city’s first squash-only facility located in a 6,000-square-foot section of the previously-vacated Providence Square Shopping Center in the city’s southeast.

“This tournament gives us the opportunity to raise the profile of squash in Charlotte, and show the community that it’s an international sport while displaying the rigorous demands of the sport at the highest level,”  said tournament organizer, Connie Barnes.

“For the local players, it’s extraordinary because they’ll get to see a number of the world’s top 150 players competing in their own, beautiful, world-class facility,” Barnes added. “It will give them a sense of how great it can be to have the PSA players interacting with the members and what they can offer. It will raise the profile of the sport in the area, and will also raise the profile of our charitable urban youth development organization, Squash Empower.”

English world No. 79 Tom Ford makes his U.S. Pro Series debut as the top seed in Charlotte. Ford is seeded to meet Canadian world No. 91 in the final. American world No. 174 Faraz Khan leads home hopes with his first-round draw against eighth-seeded Pakistani Amaad Fareed.

Fresh from winning the Rochester ProAm this weekend, Mexican world No. 99 Eric Galvez enters the draw seeded third against a qualifier in the first round main draw play. Jamaica’s Lewis Walters is seeded fourth, and will face Harvard Professor Cass Sunstein—who was awarded the wild card position—in the first round.

Hosted alongside US Squash-accredited junior silver and adult skill level tournaments, Charlotte Open qualifying begins Tuesday evening, while main draw play begins Thursday, April 23.

To view the complete draw, visit the official tournament page.

For more information on the Charlotte Squash Club, visit the club’s official website.

Report courtesy of the PSA.

Eric Galvez, a thirty-one-year-old Mexican in his sixteenth year on the PSA World Tour, dispatched a succession of younger opponents in the Hazlow Electronics Rochester ProAm to win the U.S. Pro Series Challenger 5 squash event in its fourteenth year at Goergen Athletic Center in Rochester, New York.

Former Mexican number one Galvez reached the twenty-seventh Tour final of his career—and became the first player in the event’s history to appear in the final a second time—after defeating Josue Enriquez, the No. 7 seed from Guatemala, in the semis.

His surprise opponent in the final was Christopher Binnie, the tall sixth seed from Jamaica who upset Pakistani Amaad Fareed, the No. 5 seed, in the other semi.

It was Fareed who provided the upset of the tournament when he ousted Englishman Lewis Walters, the second seed, in the previous round.

The experienced Galvez was too strong for Binnie in the final, beating the Kingston-born twenty-six-year-old 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 to notch up the twelfth PSA World Tour title of his career.

The event streamed live from the University of Rochester’s Lyman squash courts. Watch replays of the final and all matches on the Rochester ProAm tournament page.

Report courtesy of the WSA.

Canada’s Samantha Cornett survived a dramatic five-game battle in the final of the Women’s Richmond Open, beating Japanese rival Misaki Kobayashi to win the WSA Challenger 10 squash event in its second year at The Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.

It was a clash between two national champions—second seed Cornett, the world No. 32 from Ottawa who is a two-time Canadian champion, and third seed Kobayashi, the world No. 36 from Tokyo who won a record sixth Japanese national title last year.

It was twenty-five-year-old Kobayashi who denied Welsh favorite Tesni Evans a place in the final, recording a five-game upset over the world No. 31 in the semi-finals.

The WSA World Tour head-to-head record between the finalists was poised at two-all as the pair lined up for the title. It was a see-saw contest in which Kobayashi took the opening honours, then drew level to force a decider after Cornett led 2-1.

But in the pair’s third clash which went the full distance—and their second 3/2 battle this year—it was Cornett who prevailed 7-11, 16-14, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 to win the sixth Tour title of her career.

“I think it’s quite a skill to be able to spend a whole day with a friend, and then compete against her in the evening,” said the Deep River-born twenty-four-year-old (pictured above with Kobayashi at the presentation ceremony) after her second U.S. Tour title triumph of 2015. “We had a great day today and the match ended up being great too. So many five-gamers between us that next time we may just flip a coin!

“I’m so happy to have won and I look forward to the last bit of this season! Hopefully I can play just as well!

“I watched Misaki yesterday and she was putting in some great shots. I know what she is capable of since the last time we played in a final she chopped me up. I knew I was going to have to play tight and offensive squash. Right from the start it was tough. The only thing that saved me was that she went short a bit too soon in patches throughout the match. I probably was doing the same if I’m honest, and it made it for such an even match.

I’m so happy to have played some of my best, smartest, and grittiest squash today all at the same time.

“The crowd was awesome and excited about the matches all week long, and it was a great group out to watch today. Misaki and I stayed with the Urbans and they were nervously sitting on the fence, cheering for both of us!

“We have been so well taken care of here in Richmond, playing at a beautiful club, staying with lovely families, and enjoying great weather.

“Thanks so much to Patrick and Winston and Janet and everyone who put so much effort into the week. It’s been an awesome one!”

Kobayashi, who was celebrating her 10th final appearance on the WSA Tour, added: “Sam and I have played each other many times and today Sam played really well and forced me to make a lot of errors.”

Qualifying for the $35,000 U.S. Pro Series Texas Open, the second oldest running professional women’s tournament in the U.S. behind the Carol Weymuller, is underway at Life Time Fitness in Plano, Texas.

The Texas Open’s roots trace back to a 1999 exhibition between former world No. 1 Sarah Fitz-Gerald and local teaching professional Aidan Harrison in Dallas. Inspired by the skill on display, local squash enthusiasts pooled together to fund and host the $17,000 WISPA Dallas Open in 2000.

In 2002, Dallas Squash and Houston Squash collaborated to host the first Texas Open in Houston, and have alternated hosting the tournament every year since.

Former world No. 2 Natalie Grinham was a qualifier in the 2000 Dallas Open, and makes her way to the Lone Star state for her seventh Texas Open as the 2015 Wild Card. Grinham, the 2013 Texas Open finalist, is making only her second PSA appearance since returning from a maternal absence during the majority of 2014. Grinham’s first-round opponent is Egyptian world No. 16 Nouran Gohar, who is twenty years Grinham’s junior.

Two-time Texas Open champion and Natalie’s sister, Rachael, also returns to Texas as the four seed, and will take on a qualifier in the first round.

World No. 10 Amanda Sobhy marks her first PSA appearance and second tournament as a full-time professional since claiming her second U.S. national title last month as the second seed. The soon-to-be Harvard graduate faces a qualifier in the first round, and is seeded to meet top-seeded world No. 5 Nour El Tayeb in Sunday’s final.

Two rounds of qualifying commenced Tuesday, with one slate of four matches at noon local time, and four matches slated for Tuesday evening starting at 6pm local time.

Tournament director and Dallas Squash President Sanjeeb Samanta is running his fifth Texas Open since 2007, and has seen the Texas Open help grow the Dallas squash community to more than 300 players. The Texas Open is funded by private donations, and a fundraising golf tournament.

Follow Samanta’s Twitter account, @ssamanta, for updates throughout the tournament.

For draws, and more Texas Open information, visit the official tournament website.

Report courtesy of Kim Clearkin, Director of Squash for Bay Club San Francisco 

The second of the three tournament NorCal squash Closed Satellite Series played out this weekend in conjunction with a Junior Silver event at the Bay Club San Francisco (BCSF).

The $1,000 closed satellite tournament is the second in a series of three PSA closed satellite tournaments held in the Bay Area for the month of March. Tournaments like these are designed to help aspiring professional players get the points needed to rise higher in the world rankings and qualify for higher ranked tournaments.

A mix of styles from England, Egypt, Mexico and the USA made for an intriguing and exciting contest. Top seed and home favourite, English world No. 195 Charlie Johnson swept through his half of the draw, while Juan Gomez had to overcome the number two seed in the quarterfinals, followed by tough Egyptian competition from Mustafa Nabil in the semis. Nabil’s superb touch had Gomez running from corner to corner, but Gomez ultimately prevailed in five games.

In the final, Gomez continued his game of stamina but could not dent Johnson’s dominating and attacking style, perhaps due to the coaching from former World No. 4, Chris Walker. To the delight of the partisan crowd, Johnson won the second BCSF Pro Open.

Thank you to our sponsors, NorCal Squash, Americhoice, Spaten Beer and MPM Capital.

We now look forward to the third in the NorCal Squash series to be held at the Gold River Club in Sacramento next weekend.

For more information, see the official tournament page for the Bay Club SF Pro Open.

Bay Club SF Pro Open Final:
Charlie Johnson (ENG) d. Juan Gomez (MEX) 11-8, 11-5, 11-9