The 2017 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions men’s main draw is complete following the second round of qualifying at New York City clubs Wednesday night.
After fifteen of sixteen qualifying seeds progressed from the first round, the qualifying finals produced a number of upsets that saw the top three qualifying seeds exit the tournament.
Both the one seed, Cesar Salazar, and two seed, Gregoire Marche, were defeated in four games against Germany’s Raphael Kandra and Hong Kong’s Yip Tsz Fung respectively. Scotland’s Alan Clyne reached the main draw with a three-game upset over Egypt’s three seed Omar Abdel Meguid.
The only local player to advance, Columbia University coach Alistar Walker, lost a close five-gamer against Swiss world No. 32 Nicholas Mueller, 13-11 in the fifth.
With qualifying complete, the men’s main draw commence match play on the glass court in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall Thursday afternoon at 12pm noon.
Team USA’s Todd Harrity slots into the tournament’s wild card position for the fifth consecutive year. For the second year in a row, the twenty-six-year-old Princeton graduate will take on Egypt’s world No. 22 Fares Dessouky. In 2016, the twenty-two-year-old Egyptian defeated Harrity in four games, and Harrity will aim to avenge that result at 5:45pm ET.
Thursday evening also sees the first round of women’s qualifying take place at local New York City clubs. Team USA’s Olivia Blatchford will aim to qualify for her second consecutive main draw as the five seed in qualifying with a first-round match up against Egypt’s Hana Moataz at the Yale Club.
Team USA Pan American Championships team members Haley Mendez and Mariam Kamal both occupy local spots and will contest their first-round matches against Trinity graduate Kanzy El Defrawy and British Junior Open champion Hania El Hammamy respectively.
All glass court matches are streaming live on SquashTV. For tickets and more information visit www.tocsquash.com.
