The 2023 edition of the Springfield Scottish Squash Open gets under way today in Inverness with sixteen first round matches, today’s winners going on to meet the seeded players in Round Two.
Women’s Round One :
Ambre Allinckx (Sui) 3-0 [wc] Ellie Jones (Sco) 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 (22m)
Nour Heikal (Egy) 3-0 Sanne Veldkamp (Ned) 11-6, 11-1, 11-1 (15m)
Alison Thomson (Sco) 3-1 Hana Ismail (Egy) 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9 (52m)
Jacqueline Peychär (Aut) 3-0 Ali Loke (Wal) 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (31m)
Katerina Tycova (Ger) 3-0 [wc] Robyn McAlpine (Sco) 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 (29m)
Asia Harris (Eng) 3-0 Sofia Aveiro (Por) 11-3, 11-6, 11-2 (23m)
Tessa ter Sluis (Ned) 3-0 [wc] Katriona Allen (Sco) 11-3, 11-8, 12-10 (24m)
Lea Barbeau (Fra) 3-0 Elise Romba (Fra) 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 (25m)
Men’s Round One :
Anthony Lepper (Nzl) 3-2 Hasnaat Farooqi (Eng) 11-4, 7-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-6 (51m)
Joel Arscott (Nzl) 3-2 Robert Downer (Eng) 9-11, 16-18, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 (117m)
Nilo Vidal (Esp) 3-1 [wc] Andrew Glen (Sco) 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (45m)
Stuart Macgregor (Eng) 3-0 Aaron Allpress (Eng) 11-8, 11-4, 11-3 (32m)
Kareem El Torkey (Egy) 3-0 [wc] John Meehan (Sco) 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 (38m)
Miles Jenkins (Eng) 3-0 Will Salter (Eng) 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 (40m)
Edmon Lopez (Esp) 3-0 [wc] Martin Ross (Sco) 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
Sean Conroy (Irl) 3-0 Lewis Doughty (Eng) 11-3, 11-4, 11-9 (32m)
Thomson the sole home winner on International opening day
The opening day of the 2023 Springfield Scottish Squash Open featured 16 Round One matches in the PSA 12 Challenger Men’s and Women’s events at Inverness Tennis and Squash Club.
With seven home players in action there was plenty of action to get the home crowd cheering, but in the event only Alison Thomson was able to advance to round two, as she battled to a four game win over Egyptian teenager Hana Ismail.
It was a day of International success though, with all eight women’s winners hailing from different countries, concluding with an upset win for Lea Barbeau over Elise Romba, the only two French players in the draw facing each other, with the other matches all going to seeding.
It was a similar story in the men’s draw as players from five different nationalities advanced – no Scots unfortunately, but two from New Zealand and Spain and one each from Ireland, England and Egypt.
There were notable wins for Spain’s Edmon Lopez, the 2019 Champion making a comeback from injury, and Egypt’s Kareem El Torkey playing his last match as a junior, he turns 19 tomorrow, with the longest match and the only seeding upset of the day coming early in the session as Kiwi Anthony Lepper came from two games down to deny Robert Downer.
Thursday’s Round Two sees today’s winners take on the seeded players, including home top seeds Rory Stewart and Georgia Adderley.
