The 2026 Quilter Cheviot British Open got under way today with the first of three days of Qualifying matches at Solihull Arden Club. Thirty-two male and thirty two female players from all corners of the globe will fight it out for four qualifying spots in each of the Men’s and Women’s draws, with three wins needed to reach the main draws of ‘the Wimbledon of Squash’.
There were eight seeding upsets on the opening day, the biggest being Ameeshenraj Chandaran‘s win over second seed Velavan Senthilkumar. Elsewhere in the men’s matches Egypt’s Adam Hawal downed fourth seed Henry Leung in the longest match of the day, Mohamed Gohar had an all-Egyptian win over 12th seed Mohamed Sharaf, and England’s Yusuf Sheikh ended the day with a win over a struggling-with-injury fifth seed Ryunosukue Tsukue.
Upsets in the women’s matches too as Spain’s Noa Romero and Egypt’s Menna Walid opened the day with wins over 9th and 13th seeds Ainaa Amani and Madeleine Hylland. Later in the day Germany’s Saskia Beinhard and England’s Asia Harris got the better of 10th and 12th seeds Cindy Merlo and Hayley Ward.
In possibly the most dramatic and energetic match of the day, New Zealand’s Scotland-based 14th seed Kaitlyn Watts just about survived against Nour Khagafy, with dives, collisions, frantic retrieving and a couple of conduct strokes featuring at the end of the match.
Day Two will see sixteen Round Two matches as the Qualifying Finalists are decided.
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Women’s Qualifying R1 :
[4] Lauren Baltayan (Fra) 3-1 Emily Coulcher-Porter (Eng) 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8 (38m)
[16] Millie Tomlinson (Eng) 3-2 Wai Yhann Au Yeong (Sgp) 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7 (60m)
Saskia Beinhard (Ger) 3-2 [10] Cindy Merlo (Sui) 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6 (45m)
[5] Joelle King (Nzl) 3-1 Olivia Besant (Eng) 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 (27m)
Noa Romero (Esp) 3-0 [9] Ainaa Amani (Mas) 14-12, 11-5, 11-9 (34m)
Farida Walid (Egy) 3-0 [13] Madeleine Hylland (Nor) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (29m)
[3] Habiba Hani (Egy) 3-1 Tanvi Khanna (Ind) 11-5, 14-12, 8-11, 11-5 (48m) [2] Jana Swaify (Egy) 3-0 Mariam Eissa (Eng) 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 (16m)
Asia Harris (Eng) 3-1 [12] Hayley Ward (Rsa) 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 (36m)
[14] Kaitlyn Watts (Nzl) 3-1 Nour Khagafy (Egy) 11-9, 11-13, 13-11, 12-10 (56m)
[6] Alina Bushma (Ukr) 3-0 Kiera Marshall (Eng) 11-6, 11-4, 11-4 (29m) [7] Nicole Bunyan (Can) 3-0 Alison Thomson (Sco) 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 (27m)
[15] Ruqayya Salem (Egy) 3-0 Madison Lyon (Aus) 11-6, 11-2, 11-2 (23m)
[11] Toby Tse (Hkg) 3-0 Ella Lash (Nzl) 11-7, 11-1, 11-7 (20m)
[1] Haya Ali (Egy) 3-1 Menna Walid (Egy) 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 (36m)
Men’s Qualifying Round One :
Ameeshenraj Chandaran (Mas) 3-1 [2] Velevan Senthilkumar (Ind) 6-11, 15-13, 12-10, 11-2 (62m)
[14] Dewald van Niekerk (Rsa) 3-0 Oliver Dunbar (Nzl) 12-10, 11-5, 11-5 (48m)
[10] David Bernet (Sui) 3-0 Duncan Lee (Mas) 11-9, 14-12, 11-7 (43m)
[6] Salman Khalil (Egy) 3-0 Daniel Poleshchuk (Isr) 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 (27m)
[13] Muhd Asim Khan (Pak) 3-0 Finnlay Withington (Eng) 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 (34m)
[11] Yassin Shohdy (Egy) 3-0 Dylan Molinaro (Aus) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 (30m)
[1] Adrian Waller (Eng) 3-0 Owain Taylor (Wal) 11-8, 11-7, 13-11 (43m) [3] Balazs Farkas (Hun) 3-1 Heston Malik (Eng) 11-7, 11-4, 3-11, 12-10 (51m)
Mohamed Gohar (Egy) 3-2 [12] Mohamed Sharaf (Egy) 12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 6-11, 14-12 (64m)
[9] Perry Malik (Eng) 3-0 Bailey Malik (Eng) 11-9, 11-4, 11-5 (31m)
[7] Sanjay Jeeva (Mas) 3-1 Rui Soares (Por) 5-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (51m)
Yusuf Sheikh (Eng) 3-0 [5] Ryunosukue Tsukue (Jpn) 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (23m)
[16] Emyr Evans (Wal) 3-0 Yannik Omlor (Ger) 11-6, 11-3, 11-2 (22m)
[15] Matthew Lai (Hkg) 3-0 Elijah Thomas (Nzl) 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 (50m)
Adam Hawal (Egy) 3-1 [4] Henry Leung (Hkg) 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9 (67m)
