Originally seeded first in qualifying, American world No. 88 Todd Harrity shifted into the main draw of the $10,000 Professional Squash Association (PSA) Las Vegas Open with the late withdrawal of Mexican world No. 93 Arturo Salazar due to injury.

Harrity joins nine-time U.S. Champion Julian Illingworth in the main draw, and will face Irish world No. 81 Arthur Gaskin in their first PSA encounter. Continue reading Harrity Shifts Into Las Vegas Main Draw →

Article courtesy of the Professional Squash Association. 

Final:
[2] Zac Alexander (AUS) bt [Q] Diego Elias (PER) 16-14, 11-5, 11-3 (58m)

Australian Zac Alexander secured his second straight title on the PSA World Tour when he won the inaugural Greenwich Challenger at the Greenwich Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut.

But the U.S.-based second seed from Brisbane did so at the expense of Diego Elias, a seventeen-year-old qualifier from Lima who made history twenty-four hours earlier when he stormed through an experienced field in the PSA Challenger 5 squash event to become the first Peruvian ever to reach a PSA Tour final. Continue reading Zac Defeats Diego For Greenwich Glory →

2014 Professional Squash Association Greenwich Challenger Semifinals, Greenwich Country Club, Connecticut. 

Luke Butterworth reports: 

[Q] Diego Elias (PER) bt [4] Lewis Walters (ENG) 11-4, 11-9, 12-10 (28m)

Teenage sensation Diego Elias makes his first PSA final after taking out Lewis Walters in three games.  Walters battled through a very tough five-setter last night against Phil Barker. It was apparent in the first game that Walters was a little flat-footed and wasn’t moving to the best of his ability. He tried to extend the opening rallies to find his rhythm and it produced some great opening rallies. A few errors from Walters gave his opponent daylight at 6-4, and he didn’t look back, attacking the front on the volley and firing some penetrating drives down the line to close out the first game 11-4.

Diego took a quick 4-1 lead in the second leaving the crowd thinking that this was going to be a sprint to the finish for the young Peruvian. Walters dug in and made the middle and end of this game very hard for Diego. Walters hadn’t missed a forehand, cross-court volley nick in any of his matches and impressed everyone with his sublime shots. Elias tried his best to contain the Englishman, straightening up his game, not giving Lewis any opportunities to shoot for the nick. A few very good rallies at 9-9 ended in simple lets and kept up the intense atmosphere. A tight ball missed by Walters gave Elias game ball, and he worked a great rally to finish the ball with a deadly kill shot. Continue reading Elias Reaches First PSA Final in Greenwich →

Qualifier Diego Elias and Lucky Loser Phil Barker shocked the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Greenwich Challenger main draw with first-round upsets Thursday evening at the Greenwich Country Club in Connecticut.

Seventeen-year-old Elias, world No. 130, pulled off the upset of the tournament in the first round of matches Thursday evening, knocking out top seed and world No. 66 Muhd Asyraf Azan in four games and seventy-six minutes.

Luke Butterworth reports: “What a start to the night at GCC. Two excellent competitors took to the court and didn’t disappoint the excitable crowd. Despite a few second-game warnings to Azan and a conduct stroke for too much conversation with the referee, the quality of squash was of the highest quality. With two long-legged players, it’s inevitable there will be contact, but once the players tightened up their drives the game began to run much better. Continue reading Qualifier Elias and Lucky Loser Barker Shock Greenwich Main Draw →

Qualifying for the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Greenwich Challenger is complete as five of the eight qualifying finalists complete the sixteen-player main draw at the Greenwich Country Club in Connecticut.

Greenwich Country Club professional Phil Barker and club-member Chris Hanson led off Wednesday’s qualifying finals after both players comfortably advanced in three games Tuesday.

Hanson emphatically qualified for his second PSA main draw in just twenty-three minutes, defeating fellow American and Brown graduate Bradbury Thompson 11-4, 11-0, 11-3. The twenty-three-year-old Dartmouth graduate’s main draw opponent is his Australian training partner and two seed, Zac Alexander, in their first encounter on the professional stage. Continue reading Qualifying Complete in Greenwich →

Greenwich locals Chris Hanson and Phil Barker recorded victories in the first round of qualifying for the Professional Squash Association (PSA) 2014 Greenwich Challenger at the Greenwich Country Club in Connecticut Tuesday evening. The Greenwich Challenger, part of the U.S. Pro Series, marks the first PSA event held in Greenwich since the 2001 Men’s Greenwich Open.

Barker, playing on the courts where the thirty-two-year-old Englishman serves as a teaching professional, recorded the fastest win of qualifying when he defeated Trinidad & Tobago’s Colin Ramasra in just seventeen minutes, 11-4, 11-5, 11-4. Barker will face Peruvian Diego Elias in Wednesday’s qualifying final. Elias, fifteen years Barker’s junior, sky-rocketed over seventy places in May’s PSA rankings to his highest career world ranking of 130. Elias sealed his qualifying finals spot against the Round Hill Club’s Squash Doubles Association world No. 21, Greg McArthur, in twenty-two minutes. Continue reading Locals Hanson and Barker Land Greenwich Qualifying Finals Spots →

Article courtesy of the Professional Squash Association. Image courtesy of Bill Lampeter.

Tournament website: www.rocprosquash.com
Watch a replay of the final: www.rocprosquash.com/category/2014/

Australia’s Zac Alexander marked his comeback after a seven-month layoff in impressive style when he took the Hazlow Electronics Rochester Pro-Am title in Rochester, NY, after surviving a marathon ninety-minute final in the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 squash event at the Goergen Athletic Center at the University of Rochester.  Continue reading Zac’s Back – With Title in Rochester →

Image courtesy of Paul Schwartz. 

All quarterfinal matches will be streamed live at rocprosquash.com/live starting at 6pm EST.
For detailed match reports, images, and more information, visit rocprosquash.com.
For live updates, follow @squashrochester on Twitter.

Jordanian qualifier Ahmad Albazadi pulled off the lone upset in the first round of the Hazlow Electronics Rochester Pro Am on the University of Rochester’s Lyman squash courts in upstate New York.  Continue reading Qualifier Albazadi Joins Seeds in Rochester Quarters →

Feature image courtesy of Steve Line/squashpics.com. Rochester image courtesy of Paul Schwartz. 

Nearly a month after the end of the College squash season, the University of Rochester’s Lyman squash courts are still buzzing with Rochester’s Mario Yanez and Ryosei Kobayashi reaching the main draw of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Hazlow Electronics Rochester Pro Am following victories in Wednesday’s qualifying finals.  Continue reading Rochester’s Kobayashi and Yanez Reach PSA Pro Am Main Draw →

Rochester Pro Am images courtesy of Paul Schwartz.

Professional squash returns to Rochester, New York, for the thirteenth staging of the 2014 Hazlow Electronics Rochester Pro Am.

The $7,000 Professional Squash Association Challenger 5+ tournament continues to serve as a developmental platform for both U.S. and international up and coming professionals to increase their world rankings, while also providing the Rochester squash community with an entertaining weekend of professional level squash according to event founder Eric Hernady.  Continue reading University of Rochester Trio Advance in PSA Pro Am Qualifying →