The final round of qualifying at the 2024 British National Squash Championships, the draw for first round was finalised with an exciting day of squash at St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club.
In one of the highlights of the day’s action, Perry Malik battled brother Heston Malik to reach a first-round match-up with No.3 seed Marwan ElShorbagy.
After both brother took hard-earned wins over their Qualifying Round One opponents, Perry Malik looked stronger from the outset, taking the first game 11-5.
The 18-year-old rallied back and took a competitive second game after a tie-break. However, the more-experienced 23-year-old took control of the match, scoring 11-9, 11-7 to win despite some incredible winners and between-the-legs shots from the World No.293.
In the women’s draw, Olivia Besant came back from 2-1 behind to defeat Hampshire teammate Harriet Broadbridge.
The 2022 U13 British Junior Nationals champion had the edge in the first game, winning by a narrow margin before Besant returned the favour in game two to restore parity.
The 15-year-old won the third game 11-7 to reclaim her advantage with another swing in momentum, but the 20-year-old took control of the match, conceding just five points in total in the last two games to win the five-game battle in just 29 minutes.
Speaking after the match, Besant said, “I think I managed to stop making some unforced errors [in the fourth and fifth games], I think that was something that I have been working on recently. I think I just made sure I was hitting some good lengths.
“Harriet is one of my best teammates, so it was a pleasure being on court with her. I’ve grown up with her my whole life, so to play her on a big glass court in a wonderful venue such as this was really fun.
“I’ve definitely spent a lot more hours on court and in the gym [while at Birmingham University], compared to when I started training at Birmingham. I was probably only doing three hours a week before, but now I am doing three or four hours a day.
On her upcoming match against Gina Kennedy, she said: “It’s obviously such a great opportunity to be playing a great player like Gina. I’m really looking forward to it and I’ll put my whole game into it and see what happens.”
Elsewhere, Will Salter came back from 2-0 down to defeat former British Nationals runner-up Joe Lee and Amelie Haworth took down Lara Newton in just 16 minutes to set up a first-round match-up between the 2024 British Junior U19 Nationals champion, and reigning British Nationals champion, Jasmine Hutton.
Closing out the day’s proceedings, Wales No.2 Emyr Evans claimed victory over Alex Broadbridge on the traditional court to set up a first round clash with Wales No.1 Joel Makin. Isabel McCullough, Sam Osborne-Wylde and Polly Clark all safely progressed.
The first round of the British Nationals will take place at 13:00 (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 – Qualifying Finals: 2024 British National Squash Championships
Amelie Haworth (Eng) 3-0 Lara Newton (Eng) 11-2, 11-4, 11-3 (16m)
Perry Malik (Eng) 3-1 Heston Malik (Eng) 11-5, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7 (37m)
Will Salter (Eng) 3-2 Joe Lee (Eng) 3-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 (54m)
Olivia Besant (Eng) 3-2 Harriet Broadbridge (Eng) 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-1, 11-4 (29m)
Isabel McCullough (Eng) 3-0 Reka Kemecsei (Eng) 11-3, 11-0, 11-6 (21m)
Sam Osborne-Wylde (Eng) 3-0 Archie Turnbull (Wal) 11-4, 11-2, 11-1 (25m)
Emyr Evans (Wal) 3-1 Alex Broadbridge (Eng) 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8 (48m)
Schedule – Round One: 2024 British National Squash Championships
(All times are local GMT+1)
Glass Court
13.00 – [1] Gina Kennedy (Eng) v [Q] Olivia Besant (Eng)
13.45 – [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Eng) v [Q] Will Salter (Eng)
14.30 – [3/4] Tesni Murphy (Wal) v [Q] Polly Clark (Eng)
15.15 – [3/4] Greg Lobban (Sco) v [Q] Sam Osborne-Wylde (Eng)
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
13.00 – [5/8] Patrick Rooney (Eng) v Ben Smith (Eng)
13.45 – [5/8] Katie Malliff (Eng) v Millie Tomlinson (Eng)
14.30 – [5/8] Curtis Malik (Eng) v Jonah Bryant (Eng)
15.15 – [5/8] Lucy Turmel (Eng) v Alison Thomson (Sco)
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)
