Team USA put in a strong performance in the first three rounds of the 2022 British Junior Open with four players reaching the quarterfinals and numerous upsets in both draws, July 20-21, in Nottingham, England.
The BJO, which traditionally fields the strongest age division junior draws in the world, returned for the first time since 2020, and this year only fields the U19 draws following the event’s postponement from its traditional January staging.
Live streaming of the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals is available through the weekend on englandsquash.tv. For draws, results, pictures, tickets and more information visit britishjunioropen.com.
The twelve-strong American contingent fared well in both draws in the opening two days of play. In the boys draw, unseeded Arav Bhagwhati and Rishi Srivastava pulled off second round upsets over 13/16 seeds, and Hollis Robertson and Avi Agarwal fulfilled their 9/12 seedings be reaching the third round.
Robertson then recorded the only third round upset in the boys draw, knocking out 5/8 seed Tate Harms in four games after an hour-long match, while the other Americans fell against higher-seeded opponents. Robertson will face England’s top seed Sam Todd for a place in the semifinals.
In the girls draw, the U.S. enjoyed more success as Jhansi Bhavsar and Sonya Sasson fulfilled their 13/16 seedings with first round wins. 9/12 seed Madison Ho upset the second round seedings with a five-game upset over England’s 5/8 seed Isabelle McCullough to set up a quarterfinal match against teammate and top seed Caroline Fouts.
Fouts and teammate Lucie Stefanoni entered the tournament as the top two seeds and opened their campaigns with 3-0 second round wins. The Americans are aiming to follow in the footsteps of Lucie’s older sister, Marina, who became the first American in twelve years to win a BJO title in 2019.