Finals Day @ Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Irish Open

Day 5

SATURDAY 22 APR 2023

What an exhibition of squash we got this afternoon at the finals of this year’s Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Irish Open.

The women’s final was between  no.1 seed Jasmine Hutton and the unseeded Aira Azman. The very talented Mayasian, Aira Azman started off at an amazing pace and with such accuracy, she won the 1st game to 8. Then Jasmine got into her stride and started to  dominate a bit. She won the 2nd game to 5, then won the 3rd to 4. Azman was determined not to let it go easily and made a big push in game 4. But Jasmine who was hitting the ball so well; she has such a powerful drive that Aira had no real answer in the end. Hutton won the match in 4 in 39min.

Then we had the Men’s final with no.1 seed Eain Yow Ng vs no.4 seed Aly Abou Eleinen. After last night’s semi finals the packed gallery were nervous with anticipation. The 1st game was so close with Yow Ng winning it 12-10. Before the game John Massarella asked Eleinen to change his shirt, as it was the same colour as Yow Ng. He needed to change his shirt after the 1st game but didn’t have a proper squash shirt in a different colour to  the navy of Yow Ng.

He did get a shirt but he wasn’t happy with it and it seemed to bother him and he lost the 2nd easily 11-3. The rallies were still long but he was losing most of them. In the 3rd he seemed to lose some heart and went down 11-2.

But all of this has to be put in the context of Yow Ng, who is a truely amazing athlete and surely destined for the World’s top 10 very soon. So we have 2 new Irish Open champions in Jasmine Hutton and Eain Yow Ng. Welcome to the distinguished roll of honour. The 1st Men’s Irish Open was held in 1932 and Women’s in 1949, making it probably the 2nd oldest ongoing world tournament after the British Open.

Thanks to all the players for a super week of world standard squash and to all who attended in Fitzwillaim and those who watched on Irish Squash TV. Currently we have over 15,000 views on our channel.

FINALS

8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 (39m) 3-1

 

Day 4

FRIDAY 21 APR 2023

Semi finals day at the Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Irish Open. The top 3 seeds in the women’s and men’s made it through to the semi finals. In the men’s the former top 10 player but unseeded Mohamed Abouelghar was in the semi final vs Aly Abou Eleinen. which was to be a very interesting match. Mohamed is coming back from injury so his world ranking has slipped. The other men’s semi with no. 1 seed Eain Yow Ng vs no.3 seed Khan from the USA also a super match in prospect. The 2 womens semi’s looked evenly balanced with no.1 seed Jasmine Hutton vs no.4 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir and no3 seed Alex Fuller vs unseeded Aira Azman.

1st semi was Hutton vs Aboelkheir. The hard hitting England no. 3 was in no mood to hang around. She hits the ball so hard giving her opponent little time. It was a clinical performance by Hutton and she won in 3 games in 29 min.

Next up was the Duracell bunny the Malaysian Eain Yow Ng. He was just too good for USA’s Khan and again won in 3 – to 2, 4, & 5 in 36 min. He movement around the court is extraordinary.

Home favourite and Fitzwilliam member Alex Fuller the no. 3 seed played the young Malaysian Aira Azman. This was a real duel. Alex went 1 down but won the next 2 games, the 3rd to 1. She looked in good shape and confident. The 4th went to 10 all and Alex got 2 match balls but Azman went for some outragious long drop amoung  other super shots to save them and she then won the 4th 14-12.

Down to the last game to decide the match. Both players were very tired at this stage. Azman dug in and played some super shots and ground Alex down to win the 5th 11-6 in 52min. Hard luck to Alex, there was nothing in it. The home crowd were so disappointed for her.

The last semi of the day was the no.4 seed Aly Abou Eleinen vs former World no. 7 Mohamed Abouelghar. This promised to be the best match of the week so far and boy, it didn’t disappoint. Sutprisingly Eleinen went 2-0 up allbeit the games were very close. Some of the rallies were 50 or 60 shots long.

Then early in the 3rd game Eleinen had a blood injury and took a 5min break. When he came back he was distracted and lost 7 points in a row and lost the game to 2. 

Abouelghar was on the up now and levelled the match 2 all, winning the 4th 11-4. He now looked as if he was going to close out the match but Eleinen had other ideas. Both players went for it 100%. Again the rallies were truly amazing, worth of a World Tour event. Eleinen worked hard and got ahead but it wasn’t over. Abouelghar with amazing retreiving and touch could still have won it. But Eleinen got there 11-7 in 84min to reach the final on Saturday vs Yow Ng. 

It will be an amazing final I’m sure!!

Come down to Fitzwilliam to  watch the finals and if you can’t, watch it on Irish Squash TV – https://www.irishsquash.com/live/

 

Results
 
MEN
 
Semi Final
 
 
Semi Final
 

11-9, 11-7, 2-11, 4-11, 11-7 (84m) 3-2

 
WOMEN
 
Semi Final
 
Semi Final
 

5-11, 11-9, 11-1, 12-14, 6-11 (52m) 2-3

 

Day 3

THURSDAY 20 APR 2023

MEN 

Quarter Finals

[7] LUCAS SERME (FRA) V [3] SHAHJAHAN KHAN (USA)

11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 5-11 (60M)1-3

[1] EAIN YOW NG (MAS) V CURTIS MALIK (ENG)

11-5, 11-5, 11-5 (33M)3-0

[4] ALY ABOU ELEINEN (EGY) V [5] ADRIAN WALLER (ENG)

17-15, 11-9, 11-5 (42M)3-0

MOHAMED ABOUELGHAR (EGY) V [2] LEONEL CARDENAS (MEX)

11-8, 11-4, 11-6 (32M)3-0

WOMEN 

Quarter Finals

 [5] Lucy Beecroft (ENG) v [4] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY)

10-12, 3-11, 6-11 (26m)0-3

[1] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Grace Gear (ENG)

12-10, 11-7, 11-7 (34m)    3-0

Aira Azman (MAS) v Zeina Zein (EGY)

10-12, 7-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9 (45m)3-2

[3] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) v Alicia Mead (ENG)

11-7, 11-5, 11-2 (23m)3-0

Day 2

DRAW

WEDNESDAY 19th APR 2023
 
Round 2

Another great day at the Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Irish Open for Rd 2. The top seeds joining the play today & we had some super squash. All the Men’s too seeds are through except for G.Parker & H.Leung. in the Women’s the 2nd & 6/7/8th are all out.

 

11-9, 11-1, 11-9 (52m) 3-0

8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 (52m) 3-2

8-11, 8-11, 6-11 (39m) 0-3

11-3, 9-11, 11-1, 9-11, 11-4 (61m) 3-2

5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8 (45m) 3-2

11-7, 11-9, 11-9 (36m) 3-0

3-11, 6-11, 2-11 (14m) 0-3

11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 7-11 (63m) 1-3

8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (57m) 3-2

9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 3-11 (62m) 2-3

 

Day 1

The Cannon Kirk Gillen Markets Irish Open started today. Featuring some of the world’s top female and male professional players, it is a tournament not to miss. Taking place in Fitzwilliam LTC, Dublin 6, it started at 1.30pm. We had some great matches . The highlight for the home crowd was watching the 4 home players. Hannah McGugan was 1st on. She gave it her best but couldn’t really trouble the full time player Grace Gear but would got some good experience. Sean Conroy was up next and played some great squash but his higher ranked opponent Rory Stewart had too much in the end. Sean needed to win the 2nd game which went to 10-12.

Breanne Flynn played the German Saskia Beinhard and similar to Sean went toe to toe. Lost the 1st game and went close in the 2nd but was just pipped 11-13. The 3rd went to Saskia. The difference is the full time players just have that extra bit of stamina.

Finally Irish number 1 Sam Buckley played Bernat Jaume of Spain, ranked no.62 vs Sam at 136. It didn’t look it, with Sam taking the 1st game 11-7. He had a game ball in the 2nd but Bernat fought hard and got it 13-11. This seemed to break Sam and the Spainard won the next two game to 1 and 2. If Sam had won the 2nd game it would have been very interesting.  Again the full time players just have that bit extra when the pressure comes on.

See the full Women’s and Men’s draw here – https://www.psaworldtour.com/…/cannon-kirk-irish…/

There is also live streaming from court 1 on Irish Squash TV – https://www.irishsquash.com/live/ throughout the week until the finals on Saturday.

 

DRAW

TUESDAY 18th APR 2023
 

MEN 

Round 1

Rui Soares (POR) v Mohammad Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 5-11, 11-3, 11-5, 10-12, 7-11 (54m) 2-3

Ben Smith (ENG) v Tom Walsh (ENG) 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 8-11 (44m) 1-3

Ondrej Vorlícek (CZE) v Faraz Khan (USA)11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 4-11 (43m) 1-3

Sean Conroy (IRL) v Rory Stewart (SCO) 5-11, 10-12, 9-11 (33m) 0-3 

Nilo Vidal (ESP) v Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 5-11, 6-11, 7-11 (25m)0-3

Curtis Malik (ENG) v Ben Coleman (ENG) 11-6, 8-11, 11-2, 7-3 retired (58m) 3-1

Charlie Lee (ENG) v Stuart Macgregor (ENG) 11-1, 11-7, 11-6 (29m) 3-0

Sam Buckley (IRL) v Bernat Jaume (ESP) 11-6, 11-13, 2-11, 1-11 (48m) 1-3

WOMEN

Round 1

Zeina Zein (EGY) v Chan Yiwen (MAS) 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 (47m) 3-2

Xin Ying Yee (MAS) v Marie Stephan (FRA) 12-10, 11-9, 11-3 (22m) 3-0

Grace Gear (ENG) v [WC] Hannah McGugan (IRL) 11-3, 11-5, 11-7 (18m) 3-0

Georgia Adderley (SCO) v Nadia Pfister (SUI) 11-8, 7-11, 5-11, 10-12 (38m) 1-3

Marta Dominguez Fernandez (ESP) v Katie Malliff (ENG) 5-11, 3-11, 9-11 (29m) 0-3

[WC] Breanne Flynn (IRL) v Saskia Beinhard (GER) 6-11, 11-13, 7-11 (35m) 0-3

Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) v Aira Azman (MAS) 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 1-11 (38m) 2-3

Cristina Gomez (ESP) v Alicia Mead (ENG) 7-11, 6-11, 6-11 (27m) 0-3