Kennedy & Soliman Headline Draws For Manchester Open 2025

The draws for the Manchester Open 2025 have been released, with British No.1 Georgina Kennedy returning to defend her title in the women’s event and World No.11 Youssef Soliman leading the seedings in the men’s draw.

UPDATE 01-Apr : Soliman, Pajares and Murphy withdraw

Returning to the PSA Squash Tour calendar for the seventh consecutive year, the Bronze-level event is set to take place between April 2-6 at the National Squash Centre with not one, but two glass courts in operation. Every second of action will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV, with tickets available for purchase here.

Women’s World No.6 Kennedy is set to return to the Manchester Open as top seed, chasing back-to-back titles and entering the event as one of the strong pre-tournament contenders. Kennedy, 27, last year defeated Nour El Tayeb to capture her 13th PSA Tour title, and this year, will face competition from the likes of World No.10 Nele Gilis-Coll and World No.13 Salma Hany, who have been named as the No.2 and No.3 seeds, respectively.

Belgium’s Gilis-Coll and Egypt’s Hany will both be looking to put in strong performances and capture their first titles of the 2024/25 PSA Tour season. The pair are scheduled to meet at the semi-finals stage of the event if they were to come through their respective quarters of the draw. No.4 seed Farida Mohamed, meanwhile, could potentially open her account against local favourite Saran Nghiem, who reached the quarter-finals last year as a tournament Wildcard.

Elsewhere, there will be a number of home hopes looking to reach the latter stages of the event, with No.5 seed Jasmine Hutton one to watch after some terrific recent form, which included a maiden Platinum quarter-final finish at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions. Fellow England duo Sarah-Jane Perry and Katie Malliff, as well as Welsh No.1 Tesni Murphy, will also pose threats from lower down the seedings.

In the men’s event, Egypt’s Soliman has been named as the top seed and will be looking to build upon an impressive 2024/25 season which has included runner-up finishes at both the Silicon Valley Open and ACE Malaysia Cup. The 28-year-old will likely face stiff competition from compatriot Aly Abou Eleinen, though, who sits just two places behind Soliman in the world rankings and is the No.2 seed in Manchester.

South American duo Leonel Cardenas and Miguel Rodriguez will both be looking to upturn these two Egyptian players from their No.3 and No.4 seeding positions, with Cardenas, in particular, riding a wave of confidence in recent months. The Mexican No.1, now sitting at a career-best rank of World No.16, reached the final of the Silver-level Motor City Open earlier this month and has already picked up a title this season at the Copper-level Cambridge Group of Clubs Classic.

There will be ten Englishmen competing in the men’s draw, including the likes of No.5 seed Declan James, No.7 seed Nathan Lake and rising star Jonah Bryant. Since recording his maiden victory on the PSA Squash Tour at the Manchester Open last year, 19-year-old Bryant has made significant strides in the men’s rankings, currently sitting at a career-high position of World No.36.

Four British Wildcards have been named across the two draws, with England’s Kiera Marshall and Wales’ Lowri Roberts featuring in the women’s event, and Manchester-born Finnlay Withington joined by compatriot Bailey Malik in the men’s draw.