The 2025 Gillen Markets British Open got under way with the first round of qualifying, 32 matches on four courts at Solihull Arden Club.
There were plenty of upsets in the men’s matches as just two of the top eight seeds advanced, compared to seven of eight in the women’s matches.
Check out the afternoon and evening session updates below the results …
Afternoon Session
The first four matches of the day saw two matches go the distance as Norway’s Madeleine Hylland and Germany’s Saskia Beinhard saw off spirited efforts from Akanska Salunkhe and Lucia Bautista. Hylland defeated Salunkhe just last week at the Irish Open and after establishing a 2-0 lead, must have thought that her place in the second round was secure. The Indian fought back to level at 2-2 but the tall Norwegian closed the fifth game out 11-9 to claim the victory.
Beinhard twice led in her clash with Colombia’s Bautista, but was twice pegged back. As the fifth game developed, Beinhard moved through the gears to take it convincingly to breathe a big sigh of relief. Malaysia’s Ainaa Amani and Egypt’s Haya Ali competed the opening set of victories to move into the second round of qualifying tomorrow.
The first set of men’s matches provided the Solihull Arden crowd with superb viewing as two of the top four seeds were toppled as Rory Stewart and Muhammad Asim Khan suffered early exits at the hands of Malaysia’s Ameeshenraj Chandaran and Argentina’s Jeremias Azaña. Chandaran was the first to claim a place in round two as he showed no fear against World No.54 Stewart to win in straight games.
Azaña’s win was less straight forward as he was forced to battle back from 1-0 down against there talented Khan but showed his fighting spirit to save a game ball in the fourth and after a controversial decision went his way at 12-11, he was into the next round. Wales’ Emyr Evans and Malaysia’s Sanjay Jeeva were the other victors in the 12:45 matches over on courts 1 and 3, winning 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.
The next set of matches all went to seeding in the women’s draw as Anahat Singh, Marie Stephan, Chan Sin Yuk and Millie Tomlinson all progressed through to the last 16.
Hong Kong, China’s Chan was the seed in most danger of losing out as she trailed 2-0 to Malaysia’s Yasshmita Jadish Kumar. The No.12 seed managed to find her way back into the match and started to find her rhythm at the front of the court to pile the pressure onto a fading Jadish Kumar. In the fifth game, the Malaysian stormed through the gears to lead 10-5, but back came Chan to rattle off seven points in a row to win the game incredibly 12-10.
France’s No.3 seed Marie Stephan needed four games to see off Egypt’s Hana Ismail, as did Millie Tomlinson, who came through an all-English clash with Keira Marshall. India’s Singh showed her class to despatch South Africa’s Hayley Ward in straight games.
The final matches of the afternoon session didn’t disappoint. The four men’s matches had it all with a big upset taking place over on court 3 as Switzerland’s David Bernet defeated the in-form Veer Chotrani to move in a rollercoaster match to move into round two.
Bernet’s game plan relied on his retrieving abilities and ball placement as he tried to nullify the weapons of Chotrani. The Swiss did this perfectly to lead 2-0 and hold five match balls at 10-5. The Indian let his arm loose and fired off winner after winner to take the game 13-11 to breathe more life in the contest. Chotrani levelled before storming to a 10-8 lead in the fifth game, looking poised to complete the comeback. Clever squash by Bernet gave him three points in a row and a seventh match ball of the match. A stroke followed to seal the win for the unseeded Swiss to score a big upset.
“I lost my way in the third but credit to him. It was very tough out there and I had to get my mindset right. I’m just glad I managed to win that fifth,” said Bernet.
“I knew his shots were so good. I’ve watched some of his matches. He got me maybe five times on his forehand side where he held it and I didn’t have a clue which way it was going. It was very tough and tricky to read him.
“I had to step up my own game and get in front him. I had to just try and grind him down and capitalise on his errors.”
USA’s Spencer Lovejoy, Egypt’s Moustafa Elsirty and England’s Perry Malik joined Bernet in claiming victories to close out the afternoon session in Solihull.
Evening Session
As the evening matches commenced at Solihull Arden Squash Club, Scotland’s Alison Thomson scored the only women’s upset so far in the event as she down Australia’s Alex Haydon in four games to reach the second round.
Thomson lost the opening game 11-9 but remained calm and continued to move the ball into the front two corners with superb accuracy and looked comfortable in doing so. She claimed the next three games 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 to move into tomorrow’s schedule.
Canada’s Nicole Bunyan wasted no time in securing her spot in the next round as she surrendered just 11 points across the three games, beating Jacqueline Peychär. In the other matches taking place at the same time, Malaysia’s Xing Ying Yee had to work hard for her four game win over Asia Harris whilst Emilia Soini recovered from a game down to beat Swiss Nadia Pfister.
France’s Brice Nicolas and England’s Finnlay Withington scores upsets in the next round of men’s matches as they came through bruising contests against Rui Soares and Toufik Mekhalfi, respectively.
Withington and Mekhalfi were involved in the longest of the four men’s matches taking place at 17:45 as they played out a 66-minute encounter with the Englishman recovering from 2-0 down to win 11-9 in the fifth game.
Over on court 3, Frenchman Nicolas scored a terrific win over Portugal’s Soares to book his spot in round two. The World No.95 overturned a 31 place deficit to claim the victory and let out an almighty roar upon doing so.
Top seeded Argentine Leandro Romiglio was forced to come back from 2-1 down in his clash with tall Englishman Ben Smith but after falling behind, came through comfortably to win 3-2. The final fixture was won by South Africa’s Dewald van Niekerk as he beat Ibrahim Elkabbani after the Egyptian retired injured at 2-0 down.
The final women’s matches of round one saw all seeds progress through to the second round with one match proving to be more competitive than the others.
France’s Enora Villard was forced to dig extremely deep to recover against England’s Mariam Eissa to advance. The 16-year-old showed no fear as her aggressive, accurate squash took Villard by surprise and after three tight games, the teenager led 2-1. Villard straightened up her play and started to put some more physical rallies into the legs of Eissa and eventually completed the comeback in just short of an hour.
Villard’s compatriot and 2015 champion Camille Serme has returned to the PSA Squash Tour and is hoping to feature in the main draw of the competition for the first time since 2021. She got off on the right foot, beating Egypt’s Rana Ismail in straight games. Tsz-Wing Tong and Hannah Craig completed the round two line-up with further 3-0 wins.
Four men’s matches closed out play on the opening day of action with the best being saved for last as World No.81 Sam Osborne-Wylde defeated compatriot Tom Walsh in a tightly contested 62-minute clash. The third game was crucial as Osborne-Wylde captured it 17-15 and carried that momentum into the fourth to claim a place in the second round.
He’ll now take on Egypt’s Kareem El Torkey in the second round after he defeated Israel’s Daniel Poleshchuk in straight games. England’s Adrian Waller also recorded a 3-0 win against USA’s Shahjahan Khan whilst Waller’s compatriot Will Salter fell to Pakistan’s Noor Zaman in four games.
Round two gets underway at 12:00 (GMT+1) tomorrow with two courts in operation. Catch the action live on SQUASHTV.
