Breanne Flynn has broken new ground in her squash career, achieving a career-best PSA women’s ranking of No.103 following her run to last Saturday’s Schraglage Open final in Stuttgart.
The Dubliner came into the tournament as the world’s No.109 following her encouraging progress in recent weeks at the Monte Carlo Classic and the 12 Pierre & Vacance in Andorra, and three wins on the bounce qualified her for the final.
A highlight of that run to the decider was her semi-final against Malak Samir of Egypt, as she was 0-2 down before reeling off three games on the bounce to win 3-2.
However, another Egyptian, Nour Megahed, proved just a step too far when it came to clinching the title. Flynn went 2-1 up only for her opponent to finish stronger and take the last two games 6-11 and 4-11.
Victory in the final would have netted Flynn (pictured above by Christian Lortat following the tournament in Germany) a better rankings bounce and taken her into the top 100 – the title win fuelled Megahed’s jump from No.116 to No.101 – but enough points were still secured to move her up six places, climbing from No.109 to a best-ever No.103.
It was October 2022 when Flynn registered her previous best of No.104. That was at a time in her career when she was juggling work as a physio with part-time squash.
Now working full-time in squash, she outlined her ambitions in this candid Squash Ireland interview and has delivered on her intention to achieve like never before.
While the rankings were kind to Flynn, they worked against Hannah Craig despite her enjoyable run to the Indian Open semi-finals where she led the PSA No.33, India’s Anahat Singh, 2-1 on the outdoor glass court.
However, games four and five went against her 6-11 and 4-11, and her exit was followed on Monday by the rankings update that confirmed a drop of two places – from No.67 to No.70 – despite her two wins to reach the last four.
Craig travelled to India following an appearance at the China Open, and her adventure continues this week as she is on court on Tuesday in the Hong Kong FC Open, starting against Lucy Turmel, the No.31 from England.
Switching to the men’s circuit, Sam Buckley has moved from No.99 to No.97 with his run to the London Open quarter-finals. Two wins were followed by a four-game, last-eight encounter with England’s George Parker, the No.56, that finished 1-3.
Conor Moran hasn’t been in action since his Connacht Open win at the start of November, but his body of excellent work over the course of 2025 has stood to him in the latest rankings update as he has moved from No.138 to No.137, another career-best for the player who started the year as the No.345.
Breanne Flynn is on the cusp of achieving a career-best PSA ranking after enjoying a sharp rise of seven places following last week’s Monte Carlo Classic.
The 30-year-old went into the 24-player, $32.5K Copper status tournament ranked No.116, and she scored a deserved 3-0 win over Nadia Pfister, the No.99 from Switzerland, in the round of 32.
That booked a glamour round of 16 tie versus Melissa Alves, the No.19 from France, and while the result was a 0-3 loss, there was solace to be had from the No.1 seed going on to win the title with three more 3-0 wins.
Flynn learned on Monday that her rankings reward for reaching the second round was a jump to No.109, just five places shy of the career-best No.104 registered in October 2022.
The Sutton player is back on court this Wednesday in the round of 16 of the 24-player, $6K Schraglage Open in Germany, where she is seeded No.2. Flynn, who had an opening round bye, will face Tereza Siroka, the No.245 from the Czech Republic, in the round of 16.
Hannah Craig is also in action on Wednesday in the $73.5K Copper status Indian Open in Indore, having moved up one place in the rankings to No.67 following last week’s China Open.
The 26-year-old was beaten 0-3 in the round of 32 by Aifa Azman, the PSA No.32 from Malaysia, but she has travelled to India confident of enjoying a much longer run.
Listed as the No.3 seed in the 24-player event, she opens against Anika Dubey, a local player ranked No.415, after getting an opening round bye on Tuesday.
Victory would secure a quarter-final on Thursday against either Nga Ching Cheng, the No.104 from Hong Kong China, or Rathika Suthanthira Seelan, the No.146 from India.
Switching to the men’s circuit, Sam Buckley will be in action in the opening round of the 24-player, $15K London Open. Having enjoyed a career-best No.95 earlier this month, the 24-year-old is currently positioned No.99.
He will play Heston Malik, the No.201 from England, with a round of 16 fixture against Elijah Thomas, the No.96 from New Zealand, up for grabs.
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
Indian Open: Hannah Craig v Anika Dubey (8am Irish time)
Schraglage Open: Breanne Flynn v Tereza Siroka (2:30pm Irish time)
London Open: Sam Buckley v Heston Malik (8pm Irish time)
Hannah Craig is hoping to fire up her season with participation at this week’s $124.5K China Open.
The PSA women’s No.68 has yet to break the first-round barrier in 2025/26, as she fell at the first hurdle in New York and Toronto.
However, she is now in Shanghai preparing to take on Aifa Azman, the PSA No.32 from Malaysia, on Tuesday.
At stake in the 24-player tournament – where Hania El Hammamy, the PSA No.2 from Egypt, tops the seedings – is qualification for a second-round fixture against Amina Orfi, the PSA No.3 from Egypt.
The trip to China is the start of a busy period for Craig, as she is also entered in the $73.5K Indian Open in Indore and the $6k Fountain Tire Winter Open in Edmonton.
Breanne Flynn is closer to home this week, taking part in the $32.5K Monte Carlo Classic.
The PSA No.116 enjoyed a cracking start on Monday, winning 3-0 against Nadia Pfister, the No.99 from Switzerland, to book a glamour Tuesday meeting with Melissa Alves, the No.19 from France.
Irish women’s No.2 Breanne Flynn returns to the courts this week following a recent training block after a hectic start to her 2025/26 season that took in tournaments in Australia, France, Ireland and the USA.
Looking to eclipse the PSA No.104 career best ranking set in October 2022, Flynn has travelled to the PSA Challenger 12 Pierre & Vacance listed as the current No.119.
She will open her campaign in the 24-player, 12K with a first-round match on Tuesday afternoon against Francesca Whyte, the No.286 from England.
Awaiting the winner is Hayley Ward, the tournament’s No.4 seed. The South African is listed at No.72 on the PSA list.
That is just one place behind Irish No.1 Hannah Craig, who remained at No.71 following her opening round exit at the Canadian Open, a silver status, $96,250, 24-player event. Craig was drawn in Toronto against Torrie Malik, the PSA No.42 from England, and bowed out on a 0-3 scoreline.
Switching back to Andorra, Hannah McGugan will also play in Tuesday’s opening round. She has travelled fresh from making the second round at last week’s Swiss Open, a round that lifted her six places in the rankings to No.227.
That is just 12 places off her career best of No.215 set in March 2023. McGugan has every chance of moving past that mark this season, judging by her display in a 1-3 Swiss exit to Isabel McCullough, the No.142 from England, who reached the semi-finals.
However, McGugan will have her work cut out in Andorra as she has been drawn against India’s Tanvi Khanna, the No.95.
Breanne Flynn is rested, refreshed and ready to go again following the hectic start to the 2025/26 campaign that lifted her to No.111 in the PSA rankings, seven places off the 104 career best set in October 2022.
At that time three years ago, she was juggling sport with her work as a full-time physiotherapist. Now, though, she is all in with squash and determined to achieve like never before on the world circuit.
Having recovered from breaking a metatarsal in her foot last March in Denmark, the 30-year-old has clocked up the miles in getting her game up to scratch in recent months. After coaching and providing physio to the Ireland U19s at the World Junior Championships in Egypt in July, she got stuck in herself on court.
Six tournaments later – two in Australia, one in France, another in Ireland and two more in the USA – she has drawn breath, fine-tuning her play in recent weeks at either her girlhood club in Sutton or at Fitzwilliam and getting the logistics sorted for another upcoming travel flurry.
Andorra next Tuesday, followed by November trips to Monte Carlo and Germany, are on her immediate radar, and the ambition is clear – to soak up as many ranking points as possible and potentially transform her current No.118 position into a highest-ever spot.
Fresh off the training court, Flynn told Squash Ireland: “They all have good points on offer. The goal is just not to be afraid of any opponent and to just see what can happen,” she enthused.
“I’m definitely at my peak. I am feeling physically really fit, probably the fittest I have ever been. Building up the quick-fire speed and things like that after the injury. Yeah, I am feeling in really good physical shape.”
No player ever likes getting injured, but the knock Flynn sustained seven months ago in Odense afforded her the time to plot this season’s assault up the rankings, which has so far included a title win in Dublin and a runners-up spot in Rochester.
“When I was off injured, I took a bit of a step back and tried to educate myself about different aspects of the game, such as the mental part of squash, which is huge,” she revealed.
“I started tapping into those sorts of things, read some good books and I have actually started a bit of practice on myself. That is included in my training regime now, which is going to help give me the edge this season.
“Aside from playing squash, I’m in the gym pretty much five or six days a week as well. And then just the off-court stuff, I have linked in with our national coach Arthur Gaskin about visualisation, game plans and all sorts of different things like that, so they all make a difference.”
Of great help was her ‘have racket, will travel’ attitude towards getting back into the swing of squash a few months back. “I’m definitely coming at this season differently from others. I fractured my fifth metatarsal in March and when I got back on court training in July, all the advice I was given was to play tournaments.
“It didn’t matter about the results, just play, put myself out there and get myself back into match play as soon as I could, so that is what I did essentially. I decided to go further afield because there are not as many competitions in the summer in Europe.
“I went to Australia straight after Cairo (assisting the Ireland juniors), which was a great experience as a physio and coach. We had a great team environment and that is when the sport becomes really fun, when you can all get together to represent Ireland and do the best you can.
“I went straight to Australia after that to get the cobwebs out of my system and came back straight back into the European Individuals, which again was more match play. I could see slowly, week by week, that I was getting better and better, and I guess I actually peaked for the 3K PSA in Fitzwilliam, which I was able to win.
“It was great to win a PSA at home. It was really enjoyable, and then I had good results in America as well. Although it was a very busy start to the season, it worked well in that it made me confident in my movement on court.”
She is inspired by what is now on her immediate horizon. “I’m entered in a 12K, a Copper event and I’m going to have maybe two 6Ks before Christmas. Definitely a goal would be to try to win the 6Ks and then for the 12K and the Copper, it’s to get through as many rounds as possible, to take it one match at a time.”
Going full-time in squash was something Flynn didn’t envisage in her early 20s. Born in the USA before moving home to Ireland as a two-year-old with her family, the Dubliner had returned to the States for her medical tuition.
“I did my undergraduate degree over in America, I got a scholarship to play squash at George Washington University in Washington DC, so I did that for four years and studied exercise science while playing the college squash circuit over there,” she explained.
“When I decided I wanted to be a physio, I came home and did the masters in physiotherapy in UCD for two years. I was training and playing squash, but I was also studying a lot. That was quite difficult.
“At the time, nobody suggested PSA would be an option, so I didn’t even think of it. But then, in the aftermath of covid, I started working as a full-time physio and Squash Ireland got funding for PSA training and things like that. That came about basically when I was two years qualified.
“So I was two years qualified, working in a hospital, but then I was able to avail of training with the Squash Ireland PSA hub. I started to do that and was trying to balance training and working.
“It was getting harder and harder every year, so it was just a year and a half ago that I decided I wanted to give squash its proper due and go for it.”
The travel bug has certainly bitten Flynn, although her trip with the Irish juniors to Egypt was a sharp reminder to always pack carefully. “All of the other players playing the PSA tournaments are in the exact same boat as you, so there is no shortage of people to train with when you are travelling.
“From that sense, the training is always good before and even after tournaments as well. You just have to plan things ahead of time, contacting promoters, booking things in advance, booking courts – everything is a little different from home.
“Even with regard to thinking about food and things like that. Certainly, in Cairo, that was a whole new world for us when we were trying to fuel properly for matches and trying to recover properly, but we couldn’t eat all the food over there.
“You do have to think about those things in a lot more detail. I have definitely started bringing a lot of food in the suitcase with me, more as a safety measure because I learnt my lesson the hard way.
“I’ll definitely have High5 electrolytes, I’ll have the Nakd protein bar that just has the five ingredients, and then I’ll always be bringing my Flahavan’s oats in a little plastic pocket and protein powder as well.”
In time to come, once she has become a top 100 regular and started to play in the better PSA tournaments, representing Ireland at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles can hopefully become a target.
“It’s hugely exciting that squash is in the Olympics. I guess the slightly disappointing element is that it’s more of a showcase of the sport, the fact that it’s only 16 men and 16 women competing. That’s maybe a little disheartening because we are not sure what the qualifying process looks like.
“But if you take a step back, it’s such a positive step for squash in general. The sport can only grow from being in the Olympics. It will only get more and more popular.
“It’s important that we invest in it and invest in our juniors and grassroots to try to get the numbers up in Ireland because then we can develop professional players at a higher volume, which will give it a great chance to be represented in the Olympics in the future.”
Sam Buckley and Conor Moran are back on court this week in Europe looking to build on the respective career best rankings they recently achieved on the PSA men’s tour.
Buckley will be in action in the Czech Republic on Thursday as the PSA No.105 – his highest rating yet after moving up two more places following participation in last week’s Richardson Wealth Open in Canada.
Having started the season last month at No.126, the Dubliner has enjoyed some fruitful trip abroad, reaching the quarter-finals of the Helsinki Challenger in Finland and the semi-finals at Simply The Brest in France.
Last week’s trip to Canada turned out to be a short-lived campaign as Buckley was eliminated in the opening round in Vancouver.
But that appearance helped to bolster his latest ranking and he will now hope to do better at this week’s Czech Open on Brno, a $33,500 Copper status event catering for 24 players – including Declan James, the PSA No.25 from England.
Buckley will be on court on Thursday morning (10am Irish time) against Aly Hussein, the PSA No.103 from Egypt. At stake is progress to a second-round fixture versus Yannick Wilhelmi, the PSA No.45 from Switzerland, who is seeded fifth in Brno.
Moran, meanwhile, will be back in the thick of it in Switzerland following his recent break. Buoyed by a quarter-final run in Helsinki, a title win at the Stourbridge Open in England and then reaching round two at Simply The Brest, the 2025 Irish Nationals champion rose to a career-best of No.146.
Last week’s inactivity will see him go into the Swiss Open in Geneva listed at No.149 but with every confidence when he meets Lwamba Chileshe, the No.125 from New Zealand, in a first-round match on Wednesday (1:30pm Irish time).
Up for grabs at the 24-player, $12K Challenger event in Switzerland, where PSA No.94 Yassin Elshafei of Egypt is the No.1 seed, is a second-round meeting with Elijah Thomas, the PSA No.97 from New Zealand who is seeded seventh.
Switching to the women’s tour, PSA No.71 Hannah Craig has a tall assignment to begin with on Saturday in Toronto at the Canadian Open, a silver status, $96,250, 24-player event.
The Irish No.1 has been drawn against Torrie Malik, the PSA No.42 from England, with the tournament’s second seed and PSA No.7, Tinne Gillis of Belgium, awaiting the winner in round two.
Craig, who achieved a career best No.61 ranking earlier this year before injury, has had just one outing so far this season on the circuit. That was a first-round loss at the Open Classic in New York on October 5th.
Meanwhile, Irish No.2 Breanne Flynn, the PSA No.118, is next on court on October 28th in Andorra.
This 24-player, $12K Challenger event will also feature Hannah McGugan, the PSA No.233, who is also due to feature at this week’s Swiss Open where her opening round opponent on Wednesday has yet to be confirmed.
Breanne Flynn is currently training away in Dublin, hoping her excellent start to the new PSA season will soon lead to a career-high ranking.
It was October 2022 when the qualified physiotherapist achieved her existing best mark of 104.
However, having bounced back to full fitness after breaking the fifth metatarsal in her foot at the Odense Open last March in Denmark, she has started the 2025/26 campaign with a bang.
After coaching and providing physio to the Ireland U19s at the World Junior Championships in Egypt in July, Flynn contested six tournaments in Australia, France, Ireland and the USA.
There was a title win at the IACT Fitzwilliam Open in Dublin and an appearance in the Genesee Valley final in Rochester, success that lifted her to No.111 in the rankings – seven places off her career best.
The Dubliner has since embarked on a training break, dipping slightly to 115 in the rankings, but this rest and recuperation will end with an opening round Pierre & Vacance match against No.198 Ruqayya Salem of Egypt on October 28th.
That tournament in Andorra will be followed by participation in the Monte Carlo Classic from November 10th (Lauren Baltayan of France, the No.74, is first up) and then the Schraglage Open in Germany from November 19th.
Ahead of these events, the 30-year-old Sutton LTC player has taken part in On The T, the Squash Ireland quick-fire Q&A:
What Do I Love Most About Squash: I love that it is competitive.
First Squash Memory: Going on court for group coaching as a kid with Eoin Ryan in Sutton LTC.
Biggest Squash Influence: From a female perspective, it would have to be Nicol David. She was the world No.1, winning the World Championship eight times. She was my idol growing up.
Favourite Racket: Dunlop.
Favourite Shot: Forehand volley drop.
Favourite Court: Probably Court Two in Sutton.
Pre-Match Meal: I’m pretty simple, probably a sandwich. Turkey or something with a bit of protein in there.
Best Squash Memory: Winning Irish Nationals. That is the best, as well as winning some bits in the States. The first time I won Nationals was in 2022.
Toughest Loss: Definitely the European Team Championships a couple of years ago. I lost a five-setter at the No.1 string and we ended up losing the tie to Norway. I still remember it very vividly, but I got my revenge against that girl [Madeleine Hylland] in a 3-2 five-setter just a few weeks ago.
Toughest Opponent: Probably the Egyptians in general.
Squash Advice To Young Girls: I would say keep at it, keep going, because the sport gives back to you in so many ways that you don’t even know yet.
Ambition: I definitely want to keep playing in the pro circuit, want to break the top 100, top 50, and I want to hopefully be a role model to girls in Ireland playing squash growing up, knowing that being a professional squash player is an achievable goal.
Sam Buckley’s run to the semi-final at the Simply The Brest tournament in France has resulted in a massive bounce to his PSA ranking.
The former Irish Nationals champion was placed No.122 on the world list before last week’s event, but a bumper harvest of 96 rankings points has lifted him 13 places to No.109 – his highest ever position.
Buckley was in terrific form in Brest, where his three wins included his 3-1 elimination of the No.1 seed, Emyr Evans of Wales, who was the PSA No.69.
Even more ranking points could have been harvested as Buckley was most unfortunate to narrowly lose his semi-final 2-3 (11-13, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6, 7-11) to Edward Clain, the PSA No.82.
As it was, the 96 points credited to him, added to the 60 banked for reaching last month’s Helsinki Challenger quarter-finals, lifted him to a career-high ranking that he will now look to build on in Canada and the Czech Republic.
Buckley has been drawn to play the No.81, Matthew Lai of Hong Kong China, in the opening round of the Richardson Wealth Open in Vancouver on October 15th, while the No.94, Aly Hussein of Eqypt, will be his opening round opponent in Brno on October 23rd at the Czech Open.
2025 Nationals champion Conor Moran only had a one-place lift in the rankings this week after his campaign in Brest ended with a 2-3 defeat to Brice Nicolas, the No.83 from France.
However, his move up to No.147 still represented a career high in a super season where his next adventure – the Swiss Open in Zurich – is scheduled to begin with an opening round match on October 22nd against Lwamba Chileshe, the No.126 New Zealand-based player from Zambia.
Moran had arrived in France fresh from his Stourbridge Open title win in England, which lifted him 10 places in the rankings.
Switching to the women’s PSA circuit, the new season opener for No.71 Hannah Craig ended in a hard-fought 2-3 opening round defeat to the No.70, Alexandra Haydon of Australia, at the Open Classic in New York.
Craig’s PSA schedule next has her drawn against Torrie Malik, the No.42 from England, at the Canadian Open in Toronto on October 25th.
Breanne Flynn, the No.115-ranked player, has been paired against Ruqayya Salem, the No.199 from Egypt, in the opening round of the PSA Challenger 12 Pierre and Vacance in Andorra on October 28th.
She is also due to face Lauren Baltayan, the No.72 from France, in the opening round at the Monte Carlo Classic on November 10th.
Breanne Flynn has finished runner-up at the 21-player Genesee Valley Club Open in Rochester.
The Irish women’s No.2, who is No.128 on the PSA rankings, was playing her second tournament in the United States since clinching the IACT Fitzwilliam Ladies PSA Open title in Dublin on September 6th.
Flynn bowed out of the Abbas Family Squash Inspire event in Columbia at the quarter-final stage, losing 0-3 (7-11, 10-12, 6-11) to Malak Taha, the No.152 PSA rank from Egypt, the day after she beat Canadian Mollie Chadwick, the PSA No.251, 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-1) in the round of 16.
Flynn fared much better in Genesee, though, reeling off three consecutive wins to make last Saturday’s final against Amina El Rihany of Egypt.
The decider proved a step too far for Flynn, who lost 0-3 (3-11, 7-11, 5-11) to the No.63 PSA rank.
Flynn had defeated the PSA No.85, Madeleine Hylland of Norway, 3-2 in the semi-finals after defeating the No.109, Cristina Tartarone of Italy, 3-2 and the No.144, Kara Lincou of France, 3-0.
Three of Ireland’s leading squash players suffered quarter-final eliminations on Thursday, Conor Moran and Sam Buckley losing at the Helsinki PSA Challenger and Breanne Flynn beaten at the Abbas Family Squash Inspire in Columbia.
Moran, the PSA men’s No.172 rank, had two wins to his credit in Finland coming into his quarter-final, including the scalp of Edwin Clain, the Helsinki No.4 seed who is ranked 83rd on the PSA list.
However, Diego Gobbi, the Helsinki No.7 seed, wasn’t added to Moran’s hit list as the Brazilian, who is listed as the PSA No.105, eventually clinched a 2-3 win.
Moran demonstrated tremendous resilience, twice coming from behind to level at 1-1 and 2-2, but the deciding game got away from him early and he could only manage a single point.
Buckley, the No.8 seed in Finland, had comfortably seen off England’s Noah Meredith in his only match before the quarter-finals, and he got off to a flyer against No.3 seed Daniel Poleshchuk from Israel.
The PSA No.126 won the first game 14-12 but was then eclipsed in the next three by a player listed as No.75 by PSA.
In the USA, eight-seed Flynn, ranked No.128 on the PSA women’s list, came into her quarter-final buoyed by a 3-0 dismissal of Molly Chadwick, the No.251 PSA rank from Canada.
However, that dominance wasn’t repeated against Egypt’s Malak Taha, the PSA No.152, and she was beaten 0-3.
HELSINKI PSA CHALLENGER (Finland) – Quarter-finals
Conor Moran 2-3 (7-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7, 1-11) v Diego Gobbi (Brazil)
Sam Buckley 1-3 (14-12, 6-11, 7-11, 6-11) v Daniel Poleshchuk (Israel)
ABBAS FAMILY SQUASH INSPIRE (Columbia, USA) – Quarter-final
Breanne Flynn 0-3 (7-11, 10-12, 6-11) v Malak Taha (Egypt)
