Six of the 16 seeded players – including defending men’s champion Greg Lobban – were unceremoniously dumped from the Quilter Cheviot Cannon Kirk Irish Open on a Wednesday packed with shock results in Dublin.
Four of the eight men’s seeds and two of the eight women’s seeds exited the Copper status event when losing their first matches following their round one byes on Tuesday.
The Wednesday hit list at Fitzwilliam included Egypt’s Habiba Hani, the #7 seed & PSA #49, who found Ireland’s Breanne Flynn, the PSA #97, far too hot to handle.
Flynn fought back from an initial slow start in game one to take a 2-0 lead. A couple of match points were then spurned in the third, which allowed Hani to halve the deficit in the 13-15 tiebreaker, but the Irish No.2 wasn’t to be denied as she powered her way through the fourth game to secure a deserved 3-1 success.
It was one of the greatest wins in the soon-to-be 31-year-old’s career, but she now has the opportunity to even better that achievement as she will face Nada Abbas, who is the women’s #1 seed and PSA #16, in Thursday’s quarter-finals.
The top-seeded Egyptian – the Irish Open title winner in 2024 – began her latest Dublin run with a 3-0 win over New Zealand’s Ella Jane Lash, the #83, not long after Zeina Mickawy, another of the large Egyptian contingent at the 2026 event, survived a real scare against Malaysia’s Ainaa Amani.
The #54 took a 2-0 lead and battled gamely from there, including having match point in the fourth, but the #2 seed and PSA #30 eventually got over the line 3-2.
Mickawy’s match was the reverse of what happened later in the day to her fellow countrywoman Haya Ali. The #6 seed and PSA #46 took a 2-0 lead against Kaitlyn Watts, the #73 from New Zealand, but then lost two tiebreaks and then the fifth game 11-6 to make a 3-2 exit.
Switching to the men’s section, the #1, #3, #5 and #8 seeds all fell by the wayside over the course of a spectacular day.
The top-seeded Lobban, the PSA #26, survived several match points to win the third game 18-16 in his feisty clash with Emyr Evans, the #75 from Wales.
However, the 2025 Irish Open champion was ultimately outmanoeuvred in the fourth, leaving Evans to progress to a quarter-final against England’s Perry Malik, the PSA #64, who was awarded a 3-0 win when #8 seed and PSA #83, America’s Shahjahan Khan, retired injured with their first game tied at 9-all.
The unseeded Finnlay Withington, the PSA #64, convincingly won his all-English encounter 3-0 against Patrick Rooney, the #3 seed & PSA #40.
There was also a 3-0 win for the unseeded Rui Soares, the PSA #88 from Portugal, against Adrian Waller, the #5 seed and PSA #56 from England.
Quilter Cheviot Cannon Kirk Irish Open, Dublin
Men’s round two, Wednesday
🏴 Finnlay Withington (#65) WON 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-9) v Patrick Rooney (#3 seed & PSA #40) 🏴
🇯🇵 Ryunosuke Tsukue (#6 seed & PSA #61) WON 3-2 (7-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-4) v Leandro Romiglio (#78) 🇦🇷
🇨🇴 Matias Knudsen (#2 seed & PSA #47) WON 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 4-11, 11-5 ) v Duncan Lee (#85) 🇲🇾
🇲🇾 Sanjay Jeeva (#7 seed & PSA #63) WON 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8) v Rory Scott (#82) 🏴
🏴 Emyr Evans (#75) WON 3-1 (11-9, 11-6, 16-18, 11-7) v Greg Lobban (#1 seed & PSA #26) 🏴
🏴 Sam Todd (#4 seed & PSA #43) WON 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-5) v Dylan Molinaro (#103) 🇦🇺
🇵🇹 Rui Soares (#88) WON 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-7) v Adrian Waller (#5 seed & PSA #56) 🏴
🏴 Perry Malik (#64) WON 3-0 (9-9 ret) v Shahjahan Khan (#8 seed & PSA #83) 🇺🇸
Men’s quarter-finals, Thursday
2:45pm: 🇯🇵 Ryunosuke Tsukue (#6 seed & PSA #61) v Finnlay Withington (#65) 🏴
4:15pm: 🇨🇴 Matias Knudsen (#2 seed & PSA #47) v Sanjay Jeeva (#7 seed & PSA #63) 🇲🇾
5:45pm: 🏴 Sam Todd (#4 seed & PSA #43) v Rui Soares (#88) 🇵🇹
6:30pm: 🏴 Perry Malik (#64) v Emyr Evans (#75) 🏴
Women’s round two, Wednesday
🇪🇬 Hana Ramadan (#3 seed & PSA #32) WON 3-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-7) v Millie Tomlinson (#68) 🏴
🇪🇬 Nadien Elhammamy (#5 seed & PSA #42) WON 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-4) vMadison Lyon (#78) 🇦🇺
🇪🇬 Zeina Mickawy (#2 seed & PSA #30) WON 3-2 (10-12, 7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9) v Ainaa Amani (#54) 🇲🇾
🇳🇿 Joelle King (#8 seed & PSA #73) WON 3-2 (14-12, 4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4) v Madeleine Hylland (#70) 🇳🇴
🇪🇬 Nada Abbas (#1 seed & PSA #16) WON 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-9) v Ella Jane Lash (#83) 🇳🇿
🇪🇬 Nardine Garas (#4 seed & PSA #38) WON 3-0 (11-5, 11-1, 11-1) v Jessica van der Walt (#66) 🇦🇺
🇮🇪 Breanne Flynn (#97) WON 3-1 (11-8, 11-5, 13-15, 11-8) v Habiba Hani (#7 seed & PSA #49) 🇪🇬
🇳🇿 Kaitlyn Watts (#73) WON 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-6) v Haya Ali (#6 seed & PSA #46) 🇪🇬
Women’s quarter-finals, Thursday
2pm: 🇪🇬 Hana Ramadan (#3 seed & PSA #32) v Nadien Elhammamy (#5 seed & PSA #42) 🇪🇬
3:30pm: 🇪🇬 Zeina Mickawy (#2 seed & PSA #30) v Joelle King (#8 seed & PSA #73) 🇳🇿
5pm: 🇪🇬 Nada Abbas (#1 seed & PSA #16) v Breanne Flynn (#97) 🇮🇪
7:15pm: 🇪🇬 Nardine Garas (#4 seed & PSA #38) v Kaitlyn Watts (#73) 🇳🇿
