American Chris Hanson, world No. 175, was the single stateside representative in the main draw of the Racquet Club (RC) Pro Series, a Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament in St. Louis, starting yesterday, November 12, at the Racquet Club of St. Louis, in St. Louis, Missouri.

In their first career-match-up, Hanson faced eighth seed and world No. 136, Canadian Michael McCue, in the first round of the main draw. Hanson recovered from being down 2-1 after three games to push it to a fifth, but the Canadian dominated the decider, 11-5.

The sixteen-player draw features top seed, New Zealand’s Martin Knight, world No. 45, poised to face second seed, Egypt’s Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, world No. 48, in  the final. The two have played just once before, with Anwar Reda—who is now based at Merion Cricket Club in Pennsylvania—coming out on top with a 3-0 win in 2009.

The Challenger 10 event, offering a 10K purse prize, includes top competitors from eleven different countries, ranked between Nos. 45 and 211 in the world. The tournament runs from November 12-15.

For more information, visit the RC Pro Series tournament page.

RC Pro Series First Round: 
[1] Martin Knight (NZL) d Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4
[8] Michael McCue (CAN) d Chris Hanson (USA) 6-11, 11-8, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5
[6] Matthew Serediak (CAN) d Mubarak Mohsin (PAK) 11-3, 11-5, 11-7
[4] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) d Sunil Seth (GUY) 11-7, 11-8, 11-9
[3] Shawn Delierre (CAN) d Rodrigo Pezzota (ARG) 11-8, 11-7, 11-7
[5] Lewis Walters (ENG) d Sean Conroy (IRL) 12-10, 11-7, 11-9
[7] Alex Ingham (ENG) d Thoboki Mohohlo (RSA) 11-8, 11-8, 11-8
[2] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) d Karamatullak Khan (PAK)