The second annual $10,000 women’s U.S. Pro Series event at the MacArthur Squash Center will benefit free breast cancer screenings for title sponsors Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital in addition to the fourth annual Squash Cancer Tournament held concurrently at the Boar’s Head Resort in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend.
The Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital Open is streaming and scoring live all weekend from the University of Virginia’s blue and orange glass court on U.S. Pro Series Live with the first round commencing Thursday afternoon.
“Holding our men’s PSA event alongside two amateur tournaments has proved to be a winning plan, so we have decided to emulate this formula with women’s squash,” said Mark Allen, McArthur Squash Center Director of Squash. “Our $10,000 PSA event will bring several of tomorrow’s stars—young women who are likely to rise to the very top of the world rankings over the next 3 to 5 years—to Boar’s Head Sports Club.”
After qualifying for the main draw of the Delaware Investments U.S. Open last week, Egyptian world No. 37 Kanzy El Defrawy leads the draw as the top seed. The Trinity senior will face the University of Pennsylvania’s Marie Stephan in the first round. Another Bantam in the form of Colombian Catalina Pelaez enters the draw seeded fourth.
Welsh world No. 49 Deon Saffery is seeded second, and faces Access Youth Academy and Columbia graduate Reyna Pacheco in the first round.
Follow live streaming and scoring throughout the weekend on U.S. Pro Series Live.
Number two seed Nele Gilis claimed her first ever PSA World Tour title at the Livestuff Open, PSA W5 event after defeating the tournament’s surprise package Danielle Letourneau in the final.
The Belgian World No.58 came back from 2-0 down to beat Nikki Todd in the semi-final while Letourneau did the same against number three seed Hollie Naughton after she had previously eliminated top seed Catalina Pelaez in the opening round.
It was Letourneau who started on the front foot with a number of skilful shots from her vast repertoire on display. It appeared as if she was on course to defeat yet another seeded player after she took the first game 11-7 but a resurgent Gilis fought back in the second to restore parity.
Gilis continued her upturn in fortunes in the third game, cutting off Letourneau’s momentum and using an impressive arsenal of attacking shots to go ahead with an 11-7 triumph.
Despite Letourneau’s best efforts in the final game, Gilis was irrepressible as she stormed to a 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3 victory to break her PSA World Tour title duck.
“I’m over the moon to win my very first PSA World Tour title,” enthused Gilis.
“I can’t wipe this smile off my face!”
Result – Final: Livestuff Open 2015
[2] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Danielle Letourneau (CAN) 3-1: 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3
Ben Coleman (L) and Martin Knight in front of the SquashWorks gallery before Friday’s final. (image: Morgan Leigh)
Twenty-four-year-old Englishman Ben Coleman fought off five consecutive game balls in the fifth game down 10-5 against New Zealand’s Martin Knight to win the $10,000 U.S. Pro Series Wasatch Funds Salt Lake City Open title Friday night at SquashWorks.
Coleman, world No. 63, defeated Knight, world No. 72, 11-3, 8-11, 12-10, 2-11, 13-11, in eighty-eight minutes to win his sixth career PSA title, and second U.S. Pro Series title of 2015 adding to his Atlanta Open title in February.
Coleman and Knight shake hands after the final. (image: Morgan Leigh)
“Very happy to win the tournament,” Coleman said afterwards. “The final itself was tough out there. Martin played really well. I knew he’d be fresh for the final after I had the tougher semifinal. I left everything out there tonight, and I’m just happy that I came away with the win of course.
“Maybe it was just my day. From 10-5 you win a couple of points, then you get to 7-10, 8-10, and all of a sudden I’m thinking that I’m going to win. Which sounds crazy, but I guess that’s just the way squash goes. I’m sure Martin will be disappointed. I came here to win the tournament, and proud to accomplish that.”
Coleman hopes to continue climbing the world rankings now boosted by another PSA title.
“It’s tough. Squash can be an amazing place, but it can be a quite lonely place at times. He’ll be disappointed for sure. He’ll bounce back. From my point of view, I’m looking to push on even more now.”
“I want to thank everyone at the club. I don’t know how many people turned out for the final, but a lot turned out, and the crowd was fantastic. It was a pleasure to play in front of them and all week it’s been great for me. I’m happy to win in front of such a great crowd and some good people.”
To view an image gallery of the final and the entire tournament by Morgan Leigh, click here.
Twenty-four hours after watching number two seed Laura Massaro and number three seed Alison Waters suffer shock first round defeats at the 2015 Carol Weymuller Open World No.1 Raneem El Welily was forced to call on all of her experience and talent to avoid a similar fate at the hands of Indian number one Dipika Pallikal.
El Welily (L) in action against Pallikal. (image: Jean Ervasti)
El Welily began the encounter in impressive fashion as she stormed into a two-game lead and appeared to be cruising into the quarter-finals before 24-year-old Chennai based Pallikal produced an inspired comeback, playing all out attack to overwhelm the Egyptian and dictate the play as she levelled the match and forced a decider.
With El Welily struggling for consistency Pallikal pressed her advantage at the start of the fifth but couldn’t maintain her composure, producing a series of errors which allowed the 26-year-old from Alexandria to regain her footing in the match and she made the most of the reprieve, taking the match 11-6, 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 11-5.
“I feel like there’s lots of pressure on me at the moment,” said El Welily.
“Being World No.1 and the rankings being so close makes me feel the importance of every point. I lose my game when I play with pressure but I am constantly learning to play with it.”
El Welily will now take on qualifier Joey Chan in the quarter-finals after the Hong Kong number two knocked out number eight seed Rachel Grinham 3-1 in what was just her second victory in the last three years over the former World No.1.
Elsewhere Egyptian pairing Nour El Sherbini and Omneya Abdel Kawy also progressed into the last eight, with Sherbini comfortably seeing off Delia Arnold 3-0 and Kawy coming through a titanic 3-2 encounter with Jenny Duncalf.
Schedule, October 3: [1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [Q] Joey Chan (HKG) [5] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [4] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) [WC] Joelle King (NZL) v [6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) [Q] Joshana Chinappa (IND) v [Q] Salma Hany Ibrahim (EGY)
England’s three seed Ben Coleman and New Zealand’s two seed Martin Knight will contest the 2015 U.S. Pro Series Wasatch Funds Salt Lake City Open Friday night after winning their semifinals Thursday night at SquashWorks.
Coleman, a semifinalist in 2014, went one better this year defeating Finland’s top seed Henrik Mustonen in four games, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, in sixty-two minutes.
“Very happy to win of course,” Coleman said afterwards. “Tough game, I think it was a good game for the crowd and even better of course that I won.
“I fully expected to have to play my best squash out there. He’s the top seed, very high in the rankings and a very good player. I played how I wanted to play there, was happy that I came out strong in the fourth and was able to finish in four.”
Coleman will vie for the title against Knight, who defeated Pakistan’s Farhan Zaman 11-2, 11-8, 11-8.
“Last time I played Farhan I lost 3-1, he’ll be able to tell you more about that one, I try to blank it out,” Knight said after his victory. “He’s a very attacking player. He plays great shots in the front, he hits the ball hard, and can create some really good angles. Mostly I just tried to starve him of opportunities to take me in short. Worked really well in the first, got off to a great start. After that it was a brutal match, pretty tough start to finish. He was going for his shots, but made a few too many errors and I was able to squeeze it out.”
“Ben’s a very good player and I’ve played him just once which he won. He’s very solid, hits good lines, takes the ball in short well, and defends under pressure. It’s going to be interesting to break up his rythm and put him under pressure. It was a great match last time we played so I’m looking forward to it.”
“Last time I played Martin was about a year and a half ago, and I beat him in Canada, but it was a tough match,” Coleman said of his final opponent. “I fully expect another tough match though. He’s a bit older, and has a lot of experience. Hopefully that means he’ll be a bit more tired than me! I think it will be a great final.”
Friday’s final will take place at 7:30pm local time, 9:30pm ET. Follow live scoring on U.S. Pro Series Live powered by www.clublocker.com. To view a full image gallery by Morgan Leigh, click here.
Two of England’s top five players in the world—Laura Massaro and Alison Waters—exited the $50,000 Carol Weymuller Open main draw in the first round Thursday night at Heights Casino in Brooklyn.
Massaro, the tournament’s two seed, first fell in five games against Egypt’s World Junior Team champion Salma Hany Ibrahim.
“The match started ferociously with movement all over the court with attacks and counter attacks, especially from Salma,” reported Linda Elriani, tournament director. “Laura was trying to find her rhythm and stop the shorts from her young opponent. Salma managed to wrong foot Laura with her great holds and ability to straighten up the ball from the front forehand when under a massive pressure. Salma squeezed out the first game 12-10.
Hany Ibrahim (L) against Massaro. (image: Jean Ervasti)
“Laura came out playing her game in the second and managed to vary the pace more and control the T and she came through to win 11/8. Salma started the third game on fire and with a couple of errors from Laura she was 7-2 and then 8-5 up. Laura lost the great length that she had which pinned down Salma in the second. Salma took advantage of her lead and won 11/7.
The fourth was all Laura. She pushed up the court, took the ball earlier and hit her length with a purpose again with some lovely hold cross court flick drop shots to finish off the rally. Salma started making errors and started reacting to Laura’s attacking game. Laura went through to win 11/4.
“The fifth started off pretty evenly with Laura taking a small lead at 3-1 but soon Salma started hitting an array of wonderful winners again from all the court and she went ahead to 9-4. Laura gave a huge push and started to climb back and Salma looked as though she was starting to doubt herself a little mentally, though she chased down every single ball and even did the splits in the front forehand corner whilst trying to get back one of Laura’s drop shorts. Laura clawed back to 7-9 and then Salma hit a cross court volley nick winner off the serve to take her to match ball. Salma panicked in the next rally and mishit the ball and you were let thinking that Laura could maybe pull this off! At 9-10 Laura had Salma running all over the court and then out of nowhere Salma hit an amazing unexpected forehand boast to take the match and her first win off Laura 11-9 in the fifth.”
A red faced and extremely happy looking Salma said “I’m speechless! It’s not that I can’t believe I won it’s that I pushed myself so much when I was tired! I didn’t want to lose this time after last year but I still had a feeling I’m not going to win, even though I’m playing well. So I made myself smaller goals and just told myself ‘just one point at a time’ as when I told myself I’ve got to win it felt harder. When it was 2-2 Omneya, Raneem, Nour and my friend Bolla (who drove 90 minutes to come and watch me) told me ‘You have only one game left so give it your all! Don’t lose your focus like last time’. I’m also impressed with my nick and boast at the end!”
The ensuing matches saw another seeded English player, Emma Beddoes, lose to Indian qualifier Joshana Chinappa to set up an all-qualifier against Ibrahim.
Joshana Chinappa (R) was one of two qualifiers to reach the quarterfinals Thursday. (image: Jean Ervasti)
Waters, the defending champion and three seed then lost to former world No. 4 and wild card Joelle King in the evening’s final matchup.
“This match was of a very high caliber of squash with both players hitting deep, tight drives into the corners and volleying everything they could,” Elriani reported. “Their movement was clean and sharp and there were very few lets unlike some of the previous matches. Joelle managed to control the T more than Alison in the first, the rallies were long and hard fought but Joelle came through 11/6.
“Alison found her rhythm in the second and starting finding her targets in the back and allowing her to use the middle of the court more and finish the rallies off at the front. Alison went through to win 11/8 to make the match even at 1-1. The third game was the hardest of them all and ended up being the most crucial of the match. Both players were vying for the T and keeping the pace high and aggressive. There were some wonderful attacking volleys and deep dying lengths and it was Joelle that eventually sneaked the third 14-12. Alison pushed hard but never really got her control back after the mammoth third game and Joelle went through to win 11/8 to make it the third upset of the night!”
“It was tough for both of us after such long matches before,” King said afterwards. “I think we both came out well considering. She’s a tough competitor and we’ve had so many battles over the years and it’s so nice to be back on court with her. The third game was a turning point and I think it took a lot out of both of us, but when you win those games it can give you a spring in your step again. I’m looking forward to playing SJ, we’ve only played once before.”
Schedule:
5.30pm Jenny Duncalf V Omneya Abdel Kawy
6.15pm Nour El Sherbini V Delia Arnold
7.00pm Rachael Grinham V Joey Chan
7.45pm Raneem El Welily V Dipika Pallikal
Carol Weymuller players with tournament director Linda Elriani after Wednesday’s player lunch. L-R: Olivia Blatchford, Sarah-Jane Perry, Nour El Sherbini, Raneem El Welily, Linda Elriani, Jenny Duncalf, Dipika Pallikal, Alison Waters, Emma Beddoes, Rachael Grinham. (image: Jean Ervasti)
The famed PSA Carol Weymuller Open—one of the longest-established events on the professional tour—returns to the Heights Casino in Brooklyn, New York, for the forty-second year this week.
2014 finalist and champion Omneya Abdel Kawy (L) and Alison Waters. (image: Jean Ervasti)
The first round of qualifying played out Wednesday night with Thursday’s qualifying finals completing the $50,000, 16-player main draw. All matches will be streamed and scored live on U.S. Pro Series Live powered by www.clublocker.com.
The high-caliber draw attracted five of the world’s top 10 women including world No. 1 and top seed Raneem El Welily, returning champion and three seed Alison Waters, returning finalist Omneya Abdel Kawy, and two seed Laura Massaro.
World No. 37 Olivia Blatchford was the only American to enter the tournament. Blatchford grew up playing on the Heights Casino courts and was backed by an enthusiastic home crowd Wednesday night in her qualifier against Denmark’s Line Hansen, who had defeated the American earlier in the week in the NetSuite Open quarterfinals in three games. Their Brooklyn match went down to the wire with a Hansen pulling through a tiebreaker 14-12 in the fifth game ending home hopes.
“To be honest I think that Olivia played better and deserved to win,” Hansen said after the match. I think that she’s really talented and when she gets the last parts of her game right she’ll be very dangerous. I hope that I can step it up tomorrow as I was struggling to find the right pace on there, but I’ll take the win!”
After two rounds of qualifying, the bottom half of the main draw will play our Thursday night in Brooklyn. Live streaming and scoring is available on U.S. Pro Series Live powered by www.clublocker.com. For more information, like Carol Weymuller Open on facebook, and follow @CarolWeymuller on Twitter.
Three seed Ben Coleman (R) against seven seed Leandro Romiglio. (image: Morgan Leigh)
The fourth $10,000 U.S. Pro Series Wasatch Funds Salt Lake City Open is down to the semifinals Thursday night at SquashWorks in the beehive state.
Three of the top four seeds will comprise Thursday’s semifinals following Wednesday evening’s quarterfinals. Finnish top seed Henrik Mustonen will take on returning semifinalists Ben Coleman, both of whom advanced in three games and just over half an hour.
The second semifinal will be contested between New Zealand’s two seed Martin Knight and Pakistan’s five seed Farhan Zaman, who produced the only upset in a five-game quarterfinal over Welsh five seed Peter Creed, 7-11, 11-6, 15-13, 4-11, 11-4 in seventy-two minutes.
Thursday’s semifinals begin at 6:30pm local time, 8:30pm ET. Follow live scoring on U.S. Pro Series Live powered by www.clublocker.com. To view a full image gallery by Morgan Leigh, click here.
The fourth U.S. Pro Series Wasatch Funds Salt Lake City Open is underway in the beehive state at Squash Works. All eight seeds in the the sixteen-player $10,000 men’s draw advanced in three games Tuesday night to reach Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Nine-time U.S. champion Julian Illingworth and world No. 170 Faraz Khan found themselves on the losing end of their openers against Arthur Gaskin and Ben Coleman respectively.
Sixth-seeded Gaskin, world No. 92, defeated Illingworth 12-10, 11-4, 11-2, in thirty-six minutes.
Coleman (R) against Khan in the first round. (image: Morgan Leigh)
“I knew the start was going to be tough,” Gaskin said after the match. “My plan was to make the first game tough and physical—win or lose. He’s a clever player and has played for a very long time so he was a tough draw to begin with. I knew if I won the first game it would put me in a very strong position. The most important stage of the game was when I was down 2-4 in the second, I felt like I lost my way a little bit mentally so I jeered myself up, and I thought if I can just push myself to up the tempo. I was working hard to apply pressure and take time away from him, at 7-4, 8-4, in the second, I felt like he was really hurting. In the third I felt that I could start expressing myself a little bit more, and opening up the court.”
Third-seeded Coleman, world No. 67, took care of Khan 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, in forty minutes.
“It was a tough three love, but happy to win three love and advance.” said Coleman, who reached the semifinals in Salt Lake City last year.”I had a good result last year getting to the semifinals and beating a higher-ranked player to get there. This year, I’m back, I like the place. I like the people, and I’m looking forward to going two steps further.”
Coleman he admitted he enjoyed playing at a higher altitude with a faster ball.
“It’s definitely different from what I’m used to, but it’s something you have to get used to mentally and physically. Technically, the ball moves a little bit differently, but it’s good. It’s an extra challenge and you’re all on the same court. It’s great, I like it.”
Wendesday’s quarterfinals begin at 5:30pm local time, 7:30pm ET. Follow live scoring on U.S. Pro Series Live powered by www.clublocker.com. To view a full image gallery by Morgan Leigh, click here.
The 2015 PSA NetSuite Open is underway in San Francisco as American world No. 19 Amanda Sobhy enters the inaugural $25,000 women’s draw as the top seed, and six of the world’s top ten men’s players enter the $100,000 draw of the west coast’s flagship professional tournament.
Men’s and women’s main draw matches will be streaming live from the NetSuite Challenge Court on SquashTV, September 25-28.
Sobhy, who is in the midst of her first season as a full-time professional after graduation from Harvard, is joined by Pan American Games teammate Olivia Blatchford in the main draw and is seeded to meet English national champion Sarah-Jane Perry in Monday’s women’s final. The women’s wild card is Reyna Pecheco, who is the first graduate of a NUSEA program—San Diego’s Access Youth Academy—to pursue a professional career.
The high-caliber men’s draw is led by England’s world No. 2 Nick Matthew, who is predicted to face France’s world No. 3 Gregory Gaultier in Tuesday’s men’s final. Current world champion Ramy Ashour makes his much-anticipated return to the tour after an injury-plagued year as the four seed in the bottom half of the main draw, while Colombian world No. 4 Miguel Angel Rodriguez is the three seed in the top half of the draw. Ashour caught up with tournament promoter John Nimick in this video interview leading up to the tournament.
Qualifying is underway at local clubs in San Francisco—Bay Club San Francisco, Bay Club Marin, and Olympic Club. The first round of qualifying took place Wednesday, with all men’s and women’s seeds advancing. Thursday’s Qualifying begins at 4:45 local time, 7:45 ET. Bay Club San Francisco and Marin matches will be streaming and scored live on U.S. Pro Series Live powered by www.clublocker.com. Olympic Club matches will also be scored live on www.clublocker.com.
