The fourth Manchester Open gets underway at 12:00 (GMT +1) tomorrow, with a quality roster of players taking to, not one, but two glass courts at the National Squash Centre in a bid to take the crown.
The Silver level event will see a prize pot of $155,000 spilt equally between both men and women.
You can watch the action from both glass courts live on SQUASHTV.
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You can buy tickets for the Manchester Open here.
Preview
The ElShorbagy brothers, Mohamed and Marwan top the seedings for the men’s event. Both players have had successful Manchester Open campaigns in the past – and contested the World Championships final here in 2017.
Mohamed is a previous winner of this event as he defeated Karim Abdel Gawad in the 2020 final to capture the title. Marwan is a back to back semi-finalist here in Manchester but will no doubt be looking to go one further this time and reach the final.
Strong competition will come from Wales’ Joel Makin, who lost out in last year’s final to World No.5 Diego Elias. The Welshman possesses amazing physicality on court and has proven to be a threat to the world’s top players time and time again.
There will be five home players playing in the event, all featuring on day one. The group is led by Patrick Rooney who will be looking to carry his British Open momentum going into this week. Rooney is joined by Adrian Waller, James Willstrop, George Parker and wildcard Simon Herbert, who will all be looking to delight the home crowd in Manchester.
Due to the withdrawal of both Nour El Sherbini and Rowan Elaraby, England’s Sarah-Jane Perry is the No.1 seed for the women’s event. Perry has been getting better each year in the Manchester Open and was runner up to Egypt’s recent British Open winner Hania El Hamamy in last year’s event.
New Zealand’s Joelle King is the event’s No.2 seed and will also be looking to carry on her British Open form. King reached the semi-finals of the Platinum event for the first time in her career, falling short 3-2 to eventual winner El Hammamy.
England’s Georgina Kennedy has firmly asserted herself in the world’s top ten. Kennedy has reached the quarter final stage or better in nine of her last eleven events on the PSA World Tour and will be looking to turn that impressive form into a win this week.
More home hopes come in the form of No.8 seed Lucy Turmel, Jasmine Hutton and locally-based wildcard Julianne Courtice.
Men’s First Round Draw
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) byeAuguste Dussourd (FRA) v [9/16] Victor Crouin (FRA)
[9/16] Moustafa El Sirty (EGY) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
[7] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bye [6] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bye
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [9/16] Adrian Waller (ENG)
[9/16] Shahjahan Khan (USA) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
[4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bye [3] Joel Makin (WAL) bye
[WC] Simon Herbert (ENG) v [9/16] George Parker (ENG)
[9/16] James Willstrop (ENG) v Leonel Cardenas (MEX)
[5] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bye [8] Raphael Kandra (GER) bye
Lucas Serme (FRA) v [9/16] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
[9/16] Patrick Rooney (ENG) v Greg Lobban (SCO)
[2] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bye
Women’s First Round Draw
[2] Joelle King (NZL) v byeSana Ibrahim (EGY) v [9/16] Anna Serme (CZE)
[9/16] Aifa Azman (MAS) v Georgia Adderley (SCO)
[8] Lucy Turmel (ENG) bye [7] Emily Whitlock (WAL) bye
Cristina Gomez (ESP) v [9/16] Emilia Soini (FIN)
[9/16] Hana Ramadan (EGY) v Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bye [3] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bye
Tessa Ter Sluis (NED) v [9/16] Tze Lok Ho (HKG)
[9/16] Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG) v Marie Stephan (FRA)
[6] Tesni Evans (WAL) bye [5] Nadine Shahin (EGY) bye
[WC] Julianne Courtice (ENG) v [9/16] Jasmine Hutton (ENG)
[9/16] Yathreb Adel (EGY) v Menna Nasser (EGY)
[1] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bye