World champions Nour and Ali line up in PSA Gold event
By SEAN REUTHE
The world’s greatest squash players – including world champions Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini – will line up in Eindhoven between April 9-14 as they do battle for the 2019 DPD Open, PSA World Tour Gold titles.
Held at the new DPD Hub in Oirschot, the DPD Open will offer up a prize purse of $212,000, which is split equally between the men’s and women’s events. Farag and El Sherbini will look to replicate the form which saw them claim the most prestigious titles in squash last week at the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family in Chicago.
Farag dethroned fellow Egyptian Mohamed ElShorbagy to rise to World No.1 earlier this month, and both players will feature in a top-class draw that also features stars such as former World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad, Germany’s Simon Rösner, Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez, Netherlands-based Paul Coll, World No.8 Mohamed Abouelghar and former World No.3 Marwan ElShorbagy.
The women’s draw will feature the entirety of the top 10, with World No.1 Raneem El Welily headlining the draw ahead of El Sherbini, World Championship runner-up Nour El Tayeb, France’s Camille Serme, New Zealand’s Joelle King, English duo Sarah-Jane Perry and Laura Massaro, and World No.8 Nouran Gohar.
Also included is Dutch No.1 Milou van der Heijden. Eindhoven-based van der Heijden currently holds a career-high World No.29 ranking and will head up home interest.
Dutch No.2 Tessa ter Sluis has been named the wildcard in the women’s event, while the men’s wildcard will be decided by a playoff between the top ranked Dutch male, Roshan Bharos, and World No.265 Thijs Roukens, prior to the tournament starting.
Matches will be split between the DPD Hub and Squash Time Eindhoven during round one, while all matches from the second round onwards will be held on the glass court erected at the DPD Hub.
2019 DPD Open, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Men’s Entry List:
1) Ali Farag (EGY)
2) Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
3) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
4) Simon Rösner (GER)
5) Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
6) Paul Coll (NZL)
7) Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
8) Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
9) James Willstrop (ENG)
10) Raphael Kandra (GER)
11) Gregoire Marche (FRA)
12) Joel Makin (WAL)
13) Tom Richards (ENG)
14) Declan James (ENG)
15) Daryl Selby (ENG)
16) Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
17) Borja Golan (ESP)
18) George Parker (ENG)
19) Lucas Serme (FRA)
20) Mazen Hesham (EGY)
21) Chris Simpson (ENG)
22) Cameron Pilley (AUS)
23) Mostafa Asal (EGY)
Wildcard) TBC
Women’s Entry List:
1) Raneem El Welily (EGY)
2) Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
3) Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
4) Camille Serme (FRA)
5) Joelle King (NZL)
6) Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
7) Laura Massaro (ENG)
8) Nouran Gohar (EGY)
9) Alison Waters (ENG)
10) Tesni Evans (WAL)
11) Amanda Sobhy (USA)
12) Yathreb Adel (EGY)
13) Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)
14) Emily Whitlock (ENG)
15) Nicol David (MAS)
16) Millie Tomlinson (ENG)
17) Mariam Metwally (ENG)
18) Nele Gilis (BEL)
19) Rowan Elaraby (EGY)
20) Milou van der Heijden (NED)
21) Hollie Naughton (CAN)
22) Rachael Grinham (AUS)
23) Coline Aumard (FRA)
Wildcard: Tessa ter Sluis (NED)
Tickets for the DPD Open are available for purchase through Ticketmaster.
Article by SEAN REUTHE (PSA PR and Media Manager). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.
Pictures courtesy of PSA