Qualifying Finals : Main draw places claimed

The 2025 Gillen Markets British Open continued today with the final round of qualifying, eight matches on the show court at Solihull Arden Club with a place in the main draw on offer for the winner – with the added bonus some ‘lucky loser’ spots too!

Read on to see how the matches played out and who the qualifiers get to play …

Amani Beats Ali To Become First Qualifier 

Malaysia’s No.2 seed Ainaa Amani became the first player to qualify for the main draw of the GillenMarkets British Open after coming through a tough four game battle with Egypt’s Haya Ali at Solihull Arden Squash Club.

Amani claimed a nail-biting first game 16-14 after both held game balls in the tiebreak. The No.2 seed used her superb attacking abilities to get her out of trouble and converted the game after 16 minutes of play. Amani moved through the gears to take game two before holding three match balls at 10-7 in the third. Ali fought back to save those match balls and stole the game 13-11 to breathe more life in the contest.

Amani responded in perfect fashion to lead 5-1 and never surrendered her lead, taking the fourth 11-5 to secure her spot in the main draw.

The first qualifier in the men’s draw was confirmed after Wales’ Emyr Evans produced a quality performance of skill and accuracy to beat Argentina’s Jeremias Azaña in four games. Evans was moving the ball around with superb precision in the opening two games and established a confident 2-0 lead after winning a tiebreak second game.

Azaña showed his tenacity to fight back and win the third game 11-1 but Evans responded with a gutsy performance in the fourth to win 11-5, letting out a huge roar upon taking his place in the main draw. Speaking afterwards, Evans admitted that he would like to draw Miguel Rodriguez in the main draw and take on the Colombian on Saturday night.

India’s Anahat Singh claimed the second qualification spot in the women’s draw as she made light work of No.3 seed Marie Stephan, winning in straight games in just 32 minutes.

Singh’s line and length were terrific from the very first point in the third match of the day’s play. She buried Stephan deep in the back corners and capitalised on her loose returns at the front. The Frenchwoman tried her best to get in front of the teenager but well timed lobs sent her straight back. Singh’s victory will see her enter the main draw for the first time and the youngest player in the women’s draw since Nour ElSherbini in 2012.

The final match of the afternoon session saw Egypt’s Moustafa Elsirty claim the second qualification spot in the men’s event after beating England’s Perry Malik in straight games.

The Egyptian dominated the opening game, winning 11-2 and silencing the home crowd. He then powered through to a commanding lead in the second game, making himself impossible to pass around the middle and earned four game balls at 10-6. Despite a Malik comeback, Elsirty managed to close the game out 11-8 to lead 2-0.

The third game was the most competitive of the three as Malik started to use his skill in the front two corners to test the movement of Elsirty and was rewarded for it. The pair found themselves in a tense tiebreak but the experience of Elsirty shone through as he marched into the main draw for the second time in his career.

In the first match of the evening session, Scotland’s Alison Thomson scored another big upset as she knocked out World No.52 and No.4 seed Nicole Bunyan to reach the main draw of the British Open for the first time in her career.

Thomson overturned a 40 place ranking deficit yesterday to beat Xin Ying Yee and has overturned a 48 place deficit today to defeat Bunyan. The pair shared two close first games with Thomson winning in a tiebreak to level the match. From there, the Scot used her short game to constantly move the Canadian into the front two corners and find outright winners. Thomson won 11-9, 11-7 in just over 50 minutes to secure her place in the first round of the Diamond event.

For the first time since 2017, the men’s British Open main draw will see a South African take to the court after Dewald van Niekerk defeated England’s Finnlay Withington in straight games to earn the third qualification spot in the men’s event.

The South African showed his class in the opening exchanges and got to work with his attritional style of play, eating into the legs of Withington early on. The calmness and patience of van Niekerk was paying off as errors started to come from the Englishman’s racket in games two and three. After a spirited effort in the third game, van Niekerk eventually took it 11-9 to hold off the Withington comeback and earn a spot in the main draw.

An all-French clash between 2015 champion Camille Serme and Enora Villard took place in the final women’s match of the qualification with one spot left in the women’s draw.

Serme was the heavy favourite heading into the match but Villard was determined to put her own stamp on the match. After Serme captured the opener, Villard responded in perfect style, running out to a 6-2 lead by attacking her compatriot and held that lead throughout the game to win it 11-6. Serme looked angered by this as she returned to the court in game three and dominated the exchanges from that point to win 11-5, 11-3 and take her place in the main draw of the British Open for the first time in four years.

The final match of the night was a rematch of the World U23 final between Pakistan’s Noor Zaman and Egypt’s Kareem El Torkey. Zaman took the spoils once more and booked his spot in the main draw of the British Open after an entertaining four game battle.

Zaman found his range at the front and back of the court early in the fixture and looked focused as he took a commanding 2-0 lead. The Egyptian responded by taking the third game 11-3, firing the ball in short and capitalising on Zaman errors. In a competitive fourth, there was noting to separate the two as the score reached 5-5, Zaman established a two-point lead to pull ahead and secured the game 11-7 to win in 46 minutes.

Men’s Qualifiers : 
Moustafa Elsirty,  plays Declan James | Emyr Evans, plays Miguel Rodriguez | Noor Zaman, plays Curtis Malik | Dewald van Niekerk, plays Alex Lau
Lucky Losers : Kareem El Torkey, plays Yahya Elnawasany | Finnlay Withington, plays Baptiste Masotti

Women’s Qualifiers :
Anahat Singh, plays Lisa Aitken | Ainaa Amani, plays SJ Perry |Camille Serme, plays Georgia Adderley | Alison Thomson, plays Lucy Turmel
Lucky Loser : Haya Ali, plays Salma Eltayeb

Updated draws with who the qualifiers and lucky losers  have drawn

The main draw gets underway at 12:00 on May 31st from Solihull Arden Club.
Watch the action live on SQUASHTV.