The Manchester Open 2025 gets underway in less than 24 hours time, with the National Squash Centre laying host to the seventh edition of the PSA Squash Tour Bronze-level event.
The event, which will take place from 2nd to 6th April, will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV, while tickets are still available to purchase.
Defending champion and England No.1 Georgina Kennedy will return to the Manchester Open full of confidence after a career-best run at last week’s Optasia Championships. The World No.7 reached her maiden Gold-level final on the PSA Squash Tour at the Wimbledon-based event and began to find some of her best squash after an injury-riddled season to date.
Kennedy, who defeated Nour El Tayeb in the final 12 months ago, tops the women’s draw, with Belgium’s Nele Gilis-Coll and Egypt’s Salma Hany the second and third seeds.
World No.11 Gilis-Coll will join Kennedy in her hunt for a first title of the 2024/25 season as she looks to put recent injuries behind her. The Belgian has been named in the same quarter of the draw as home hope Jasmine Hutton, who is currently sitting at a career-high rank of World No.18 and recently picked up the Calgary Women’s Squash Week title.
Other notable home interests in the women’s draw include sixth and seventh seeds Sarah-Jane Perry and Katie Malliff, both of whom will be hoping to draw on the home crowds and enjoy strong showings this week.
Meanwhile, in the men’s event, Egyptian World No.13 Aly Abou Eleinen tops the draw after the injury withdrawal of compatriot Youssef Soliman. The 25-year-old will be looking to capture a second Bronze-level PSA Tour title of his career this week and will open his account against one of Edwin Clain or Charlie Lee.
South American duo Leonel Cardenas and Miguel Rodriguez will both be looking to upturn Eleinen from their second and third seeding positions, with Cardenas, in particular, riding a wave of confidence in recent months. The Mexican No.1, currently sat at World No.17, has reached the finals of the Silver-level Motor City Open and Bronze-level Canadian Men’s Open this year and already picked up a title this season at the Copper-level Cambridge Group of Clubs Classic.
There will be a total of 11 English players competing in the men’s event, including fourth seed Declan James, fifth seed Nathan Lake, seventh seed Jonah Bryant and eighth seed George Parker.
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. The rising star has taken the likes of Tarek Momen to five games as well as testing Paul Coll and Karim Abdel Gawad considerably in recent meetings and will pose a serious challenge to those above him in the seedings.
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.
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