Ireland’s top four squash players – Senior Nationals champions Hannah Craig and Sam Buckley and runners-up Breanne Flynn and Conor Moran – are set to return to court in the coming weeks following their recent exploits at Fitzwilliam.
A thrilling women’s final was won 3-2 by the defending champion, Craig from Lisburn, against Flynn from Sutton, while Buckley was a clinical 3-0 winner over Moran in the men’s decider to regain the title he lost to his Sutton clubmate 12 months earlier.
Craig, the PSA women’s No.66, resumes her activity on the World Events circuit next Wednesday at the Steel City Open in Pittsburgh where she has been drawn against Ainaa Amani, the No.57 from Malaysia.
She is also registered for the Calgary Squash Week. Seeded No.8, she will play either Kiera Marshall, the No.81 from England, or Helen Tang, the No.91 from Hong Kong China, in round two on March 13th.
Switching to the Challenger Events circuit, Buckley, the current PSA men’s No.100, will be on court at the Odense Open in Denmark on March 3rd, taking on Yusuf Thani of Bahrain, the PSA No.227.
He is also entered in the Krueger Open in Stockholm, starting with a round two match on March 19th.
Moran, the PSA No.148, will be in action a day earlier at the Krueger Open, as he has been drawn in round one versus Wailok To, the No.218 from Hong Kong China.
Before that, he will play in two other tournaments, starting next Tuesday at the Poznan Open in Poland against Cesar Segundo Corona, the No.167 from Mexico.
He is also entered in the Mozart Open in Salzburg, opening against Benjamin Aubert, the No.178 from France, on March 5th.
Moran, the men’s No.4 seed in Austria, will be joined at the event by Flynn, the women’s No.106, who has been seeded No.1, but her March 5th round two opponent has still to be determined.
Flynn is back on court next Friday in round two of the Edinburgh Open. Seeded No.2, she is drawn to play either Robyn McAlpine, the No.200 from Scotland, or Ella Bannister.
Other Irish players taking part in Edinburgh are Sutton’s Oisin Logan, the PSA No.404. Fourth at the recent men’s Irish Senior Nationals, he has an opener next Thursday against Lukasz Marcinkowski, the No.407 from Poland.
Meanwhile, Hannah McGugan, the PSA No.225 who finished third in the women’s Irish Senior Nationals, will also feature on Thursday in the Scottish capital against a yet-to-be-named round one opponent.
Another circuit match to look out for is on March 3rd, where Aaron Allpress, the men’s No.215, will take on Leo Chung, the No.119 from Hong Kong China, in the Odense Open first round.
