The draws for the men’s and women’s Manchester Open, PSA World Tour Silver tournament, have been released with the tournament set to take place at Manchester’s National Squash Centre between August 9-13.
Previous winners of the event include New Zealand’s Joelle King, Egypt’s Nour El Tayeb and Egypt’s Mohamed ElShorbagy, following the introduction of a men’s event last September after the inaugural women’s tournament took place in 2019.
Egyptians Marwan ElShorbagy and Hania El Hammamy will headline the men’s and women’s line-ups respectively this time around in Manchester, as two new champions are guaranteed following the release of the draws.
ElShorbagy, along with the other top eight seeds, receives a bye into the second round where he will face either England’s George Parker or Scotland’s Greg Lobban as he looks to follow in older brother, Mohamed’s, footsteps by getting his hands on the title.
The World No.5 has tough competition on his side of the draw with the likes of Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez, Peru’s Diego Elias and compatriot Omar Mosaad all possibly standing in his way en route to the final.
At the opposite end of the draw is former World No.1 and World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad. His first match will see him face either Youssef Ibrahim or Mohamed ElSherbini as he looks to get his hands on his first title of the season. In the bottom half of the draw with him are Wales’ Joel Makin and Egyptians Mazen Hesham and Mohamed Abouelghar.
Along with Makin, there is strong home interest in the men’s draw in Manchester with former World No.1 James Willstrop, Declan James and Patrick Rooney all looking to make an impact at the PSA Silver event.
Meanwhile, the women’s draw is led by World No.5 El Hammamy, with the likes of English No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry, Wales’ Tesni Evans and India’s Joshna Chinappa all included in the high-quality draw.
El Hammamy will begin her tournament against either Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold or Low Wee Wern depending on the outcome of their round one clash, while a potential meeting with India’s World No.10 Chinappa awaits in the semi-finals.
At the opposite end of the draw, Perry will get under way against either compatriot Julianne Courtice or Jasmine Hutton. Her side of the draw could see a battle of the Brits ensue in the semi-finals with Welshwoman Evans seeded to meet her in the last four.
Action from the tournament will be shown live on SQUASHTV (worldwide), and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour (excluding Europe and Japan).
