Day three Thursday at the Quilter Cheviot Cannon Kirk Irish Open in Dublin produced an all-Egyptian women’s semi-final line-up, while #2 men’s seed Matias Knudsen showed his title credentials with victory in a match that was the third longest of the 40 played at the tournament so far.
With Egyptian players making up the top seven seeds in the women’s draw, it was always likely they would dominate the business end of the 2026 event, and so it has proved despite Wednesday’s brilliant round two shock result featuring Ireland’s Breanne Flynn, the PSA #97, eliminating Habiba Hani, the women’s No.7 seed & PSA No.49.
That earned the local favourite a quarter-final against Nada Abbas, the #No.1 seed and PSA No.16. The Egyptian, the Irish Open title winner in 2024, registered a 3-0 win but not before Flynn showed examples of her huge strides this past year, including threatening to take game two and levelling a match that finished 11-6, 11-8, 11-7.
It was New Zealand’s Joelle King, the ex-world #3 who is now PSA #73, who came closest to breaking the Egyptian semi-final monopoly as the #8 seed had match point in the fourth game against Zeina Mickawy, the #2 seed and PSA #30.
Mickawy survived that scare, going on to seal a 3-2 win following a hard-fought fifth game that ended 11-9. She will now take on Nadien Elhammamy, the #5 seed and PSA #42, in the semi-finals after Elhammamy defeated fellow Egyptian Hana Ramadan, the #3 seed and PSA #32, 3-1 in their quarter-final.
Nardine Garas, the #4 seed and PSA #38, is also through to the semi-finals, qualifying with a strong 3-1 win over Kaitlyn Watts, the PSA #73 from New Zealand.
Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue, the #6 seed and PSA #61, was the first player to win through to the men’s semi-finals, enjoying a comfortable 3-0 win over England’s Finnlay Withington, the PSA #65. Next up was Knudsen, the Colombian ranked PSA #47.
Between an injury stoppage and plenty of court service, his 3-1 win over the acrobatic Sanjay Jeeva, the #7 seed and PSA #63 from Malaysia, took 72 minutes to complete.
England’s Sam Todd, the #4 seed and PSA #43, was another 3-1 quarter-final winner, getting the better of Portugal’s Rui Soares, the PSA #88.
In the final match of a lengthy Thursday at Fitzwilliam, Emyr Evans, the PSA #75 from Wales, followed up his shock elimination of Greg Lobban, the defending Irish Open champion from Scotland, with a 3-1 success over England’s Perry Malik, the PSA #64.
Quilter Cheviot Cannon Kirk Irish Open in Dublin
Men’s quarter-finals, Thursday
🇯🇵 Ryunosuke Tsukue (No.6 seed and PSA No.61) WON 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4) v Finnlay Withington (PSA No.65) 🏴
🇨🇴 Matias Knudsen (No.2 seed and PSA No.47) WON 3-1 (11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 13-11) v Sanjay Jeeva (No.7 and PSA No.63) 🇲🇾
🏴 Sam Todd (No.4 seed and PSA No.43) WON 3-1 (11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 13-11) v Rui Soares (PSA No.88) 🇵🇹
🏴 Emyr Evans (PSA No.75) WON 3-1 (11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-3) v Perry Malik (PSA No.64) 🏴
Men’s semi-finals, Friday
4:45pm: 🇨🇴 Matias Knudsen (No.2 seed and PSA No.47) v Ryunosuke Tsukue (No.6 seed and PSA No.61) 🇯🇵
6:45pm: 🏴 Sam Todd (No.4 seed and PSA No.43) v Emyr Evans (PSA No.75) 🏴
Women’s quarter-finals, Thursday
🇪🇬 Nadien Elhammamy (No.5 seed and PSA No.42) WON 3-1 (11-3, 7-11, 12-10, 11-2) v Hana Ramadan (No.3 seed and PSA No.32) 🇪🇬
🇪🇬 Zeina Mickawy (No.2 seed and PSA No.30) WON 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9) v Joelle King (No.8 seed and PSA No.73) 🇳🇿
🇪🇬 Nada Abbas (No.1 seed and PSA No.16) WON 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-7) v Breanne Flynn (PSA No.97) 🇮🇪
🇪🇬 Nardine Garas (No.4 seed and PSA No.38) WON 3-1 (11-7, 10-12, 11-2, 11-6) v Kaitlyn Watts (PSA No.73) 🇳🇿
Women’s semi-finals, Friday
4pm: 🇪🇬 Nada Abbas (No.1 seed and PSA No.16) v Nardine Garas (No.4 seed and PSA No.38) 🇪🇬
6pm: 🇪🇬 Zeina Mickawy (No.2 seed and PSA No.30) v Nadien Elhammamy (No.5 seed and PSA No.42) 🇪🇬
