Day Two Afternoon Session – Top Seeds Progress as Malik shines

The afternoon session of the first round at the 2024 British National Squash Championships, Curtis Malik battled past Jonah Bryant in a scintillating showing and both top seeds progress at St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club.

In a sensational display of squash on the traditional courts, Curtis Malik took down English Junior U19 champion Jonah Bryant 3-1.

The pair were inseparable throughout the first game as the Englishmen went to a tie-break. The match drew the largest crowd that Court One had seen so far in the competition, and the players lived up to the crowd’s expectations as they battled for 24 minutes, with Bryant eventually taking the 1-0 advantage.

Malik looked composed as he returned to court, and his experience shone through as the 25-year-old took the next two games in 22 minutes. The No.5 seed took a quick lead the fourth game. Bryant fought back to two points behind, but Malik saw out the match to earn his place in the next round.

After the match, Malik said, “I’m feeling pretty good, I put in a hard summer’s training with a lot of physical work and it’s nice to see that come through in that match there. It was a long, physical game where we played for over 70 minutes for a 3-1.

“We had such a long game – the first one was 24 minutes and I made two, silly errors at the backend of the game to give him the game. I wasn’t too disheartened as I put a lot of work into his legs and it paid off in the end.

“I always want to try and get off as quickly as I can and if you’re playing four matches against guys in the top 10/20, you need as much in your legs as possible.”

In the final match of the session, Lucy Turmel defeated Scotland’s Alison Thomson in straight games on the traditional courts to set up a quarter-final clash with Wales No.1 Tesni Murphy.

The Englishwoman looked strong as she quickly claimed an 11-1 first-game win. Turmel carried her form into the second and third game, only allowing Thomson to win nine points across the whole match.

On the show court, defending champion Mohamed ElShorbagy began his campaign to win his third consecutive British Nationals title with a strong showing against World No.198 Will Salter.

The former World No.1 looked in command of the affair throughout, and despite Salter’s efforts, it wasn’t enough to overcome the consistency of the No.1 seed who claimed victory in straight games after 29 minutes.

Speaking after the match, ElShorbagy said, “I had a bit of a break, which was nice. I’m not sure how long the break was as the people who finished World Tour Finals finished a few weeks later, so our break is less compared to other players. It’s what the top players should be used to, I’ve done this for a very long time and it’s not an unusual situation for me. I’m happy to be back and it’s exciting to start another season.

“I’ve played this event twice and won both times, which shows how serious I am about this event the last two years. I showed that I really want to win and play well. I’m glad I’ve been able to do that for the last two years and it would be great to do it for a third year. I’ll try and do it and we’ll see how it goes.”

In a quick start to the day’s proceedings, No.1 seed Gina Kennedy defeated Olivia Besant in just 16 minutes, conceding just eight points in the match.

Elsewhere, Scotland’s Greg Lobban and Wales’ Tesni Murphy progressed in their glass-court matches, while England’s Patrick Rooney and Katie Malliff both registered wins on the plaster courts.

The evening session of the British Nationals first round will take place at 18:00 (GMT+1) today. Action from the glass court will be shown live on SQUASHTV, while matches from court one will be shown live on the Nationals website.

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Results – Round One: 2024 British National Squash Championships

[1] Gina Kennedy (Eng) bt [Q] Olivia Besant (Eng) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-1 (16m)
[5/8] Patrick Rooney (Eng) bt Ben Smith (Eng) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (37m)
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Eng) bt [Q] Will Salter (Eng) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 (29m)
[5/8] Katie Malliff (Eng) bt Millie Tomlinson (Eng) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-1 (29m)
[3/4] Tesni Murphy (Wal) bt [Q] Polly Clark (Eng) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 (21m)
[5/8] Curtis Malik (Eng) bt Jonah Bryant (Eng) 3-1: 12-14, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 (68m)
[3/4] Greg Lobban (Sco) bt [Q] Sam Osborne-Wylde (Eng) 3-1: 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7 (54m)
[5/8] Lucy Turmel (Eng) bt Alison Thomson (Sco) 3-0: 11-1, 11-3, 11-5 (26m)

Schedule – Round One: 2024 British National Squash Championships
(All times are local GMT+1)

Glass Court
18.00 – [2] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) v [Q] Isabelle McCullough (Eng)
18.45 – [2] Joel Makin (Wal) v [Q] Emyr Evans (Wal)
19.30 – [3/4] Jasmine Hutton (Eng) v [Q] Amelie Haworth (Eng)
20.15 – [3/4] Marwan ElShorbagy (Eng) v [Q] Perry Malik (Eng)

Court One
18.00 – [5/8] Rory Stewart (Sco) v Simon Herbert (Eng)
18.45 – [5/8] Georgia Adderley (Eng) v Torrie Malik (Eng)
19.30 – [5/8] Declan James (Eng) v Tom Walsh (Eng)
20.15 – [5/8] Emily Whitlock (Wal) v Alicia Mead (Eng)