Marche to Headline in Nantes
By James Roberts, Squash Mad Reporter
World No.23 Gregoire Marche will headline the 2017 Men’s Open International de Squash de Nantes between September 6-10 as he targets a third successive title at the PSA M25 tournament.
The inaugural Open International de Nantes took place in 2015 at the Lieu Unique national centre, with Marche beating Finland’s Henrik Mustonen to take the title before he repeated the feat last year against England’s Chris Simpson at the Cité Internationale des Congrès.
This year’s tournament will be staged at Les Machines de l’île – home to the incredible Grand Éléphant – and sees Marche joined by compatriot Mathieu Castagnet, former World No.13 Mazen Hesham and last year’s runner-up Chris Simpson in a strong draw that features six of the world’s top 35 male players.
Meanwhile, the Women’s event will see Coline Aumard head up the home interest as she makes her debut at the Open International de Nantes, which features its strongest ever Women’s tournament after a $10,000 increase in prize money compared to last year brought the total prize purse up to $15,000 for the 2017 instalment.
As a result of the increase, the Women’s tournament boasts 10 players ranked inside the world’s top 50, with English duo Millie Tomlinson and Fiona Moverley, Belgium’s Nele Gilis and Canada’s Hollie Naughton joining Aumard in the entry list.
The qualifying stages of the Open International de Squash de Nantes will be held between September 4-5 at La Maison du Squash, with the main draw staged between September 6-10 at Les Machines de l’île.
Tickets for the tournament start from €6 and can be purchased here.
Action from the main draw will be shown live on SQUASHTV (rest of world) and Eurosport Player (Europe only).
2017 Men’s Open International de Squash de Nantes – Entry List
1) Gregoire Marche (FRA)
2) Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
3) Mazen Hesham (EGY)
4) Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
5) Chris Simpson (ENG)
6) Declan James (ENG)
7) Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)
8) Mohamed Reda (EGY)
9) Lucas Serme (FRA)
10) Olli Tuominen (FIN)
11) Youssef Soliman (EGY)
Wildcard) Auguste Dussourd (FRA)
2017 Women’s Open International de Squash de Nantes – Entry List
1) Millie Tomlinson (ENG)
2) Fiona Moverley (ENG)
3) Coline Aumard (FRA)
4) Nele Gilis (BEL)
5) Hollie Naughton (CAN)
6) Misaki Kobayashi (JPN)
7) Zeina Mickawy (EGY)
8) Rowan Elaraby (EGY)
9) Amina Yousry (EGY)
10) Julianne Courtice (ENG)
11) Hana Moataz (EGY)
Wildcard) Julie Rossignol (FRA)