Swedish Open: Draw Preview - Professional Squash Association

The main draw of the 2018 UCS Swedish Open begins this week when Linköping hosts the world-class action between February 8 – 11.

The tournament – which first began in the 1970s and this year sees ActiPro Event celebrate their 15th year running the tournament – will see a high-quality draw battle it out for the PSA M70 title.

A strong line-up sees Egypt’s World No.3 and U.S. Open winner Ali Farag headline the draw on his Swedish Open debut after defending champion Gregory Gaultier was forced to withdraw due to an injury sustained at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions last month.

The Frenchman – who won the title last year after defeating Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad in the final – sustained an injury during his gruelling quarter-final clash in New York with England’s Nick Matthew and was forced to pull out of the tournament earlier this week with Egyptian Farag now taking his place as the top seed.

Farag will begin his tournament against a qualifier in round one and is seeded to meet compatriot and 2016 runner-up Tarek Momen in the final.

Momen features at the opposite end of the draw as the number two seed and will line up against France’s World No.27 Mathieu Castagnet in the opening round.

Other big names featured at the tournament include Germany’s World No.6 Simon Rösner – who recently claimed his first World Series title at the Tournament of Champions – and he will face England’s World No.26 Declan James as he gets his tournament under way.

New Zealand’s Paul Coll – who recently finished as runner-up at the Motor City Open – will also be making his first appearance at the Swedish Open as he faces a qualifier in round one.

Meanwhile, English duo Daryl Selby and 2008 winner James Willstrop also feature as they face France’s Gregoire Marche and a qualifier, respectively, in the opening round.

Egypt’s former World No.3 Omar Mosaad is included in the main draw and will open against tournament wildcard Sweden’s Rasmus Hult. while Australia’s World No.20 Cameron Pilley will open against a qualifier.

Qualification for the tournament takes place between February 6-7 at Linköping Squash Center and Norrköping Squash Center, with the main draw matches taking place on the glass court at Linköping Sporthall between February 8-11.

All main draw matches will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of the World) and Eurosport Player (Europe only), while tickets start from 100 SEK and can be purchased on the tournament website.

UCS Swedish Open Main Draw
[2] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[Qualifier] v [8] Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[6] Daryl Selby (ENG) v Gregoire Marche (FRA)
Declan James (ENG) v [4] Simon Rösner (GER)
[3] Paul Coll (NZL) v [Qualifier]
[WC] Rasmus Hult (SWE) v [7] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [1] Ali Farag (EGY)