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Welsh ace Tesni Evans is calling on Cardiff, her home town, to host the British Open squash championships.
Cardiff-born Tesni, who now lives in Rhyl, plays in the women’s Open quarter-finals against Camille Serme (France) later today.
The 2018 British Open is being played in Hull and the championships will be looking for a new home next year after six years on Humberside.
When the suggestion was made to Tesni about the next venue being in Cardiff her eyes widened and she said: “I love playing at home.
“My gosh, please! Can somebody put some sponsorship in. I would absolutely love that and it would be the best thing to host it.”
The British Open was held on Cardiff during the mid-1990s when Pakistan’s World number one Jansher Khan was champion.
He lifted those titles at Cardiff’s International Arena, beating Peter Marshall (3-0, 1995), Rodney Eyles (3-0, 1996) and Peter Nicol (3-2, 1997).
Tesni is a leader of Welsh squash, having beaten World, British and Commonwealth squash champions in the last month.
There is no question Tesni’s tenacity, commitment and sheer skill have lifted her among the best players in Britain and the World.
Tesni is already a British Champion, having won the women’s closed title in Manchester, and is hungry to upgrade and add the prestigious Open version.
Her progress has been stunning, winning a Commonwealth bronze medallist on the Gold Coast and then going into a busy spell which has taken a toll.
She managed one night’s sleep at home in Rhyl after the Gold Coast before travelling to El Gouna in Egypt and then the European Team Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.
Tesni defeated close friend and practice partner, Joelle King, New Zealand’s Commonwealth champion, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 and moved onto the quarter-finals. There are four British players left in the draw.
“It was one of those days where everything seemed to come off and I just tried to stay solid,” said Evans.
The tour has produced no down time for Evans since the Commonwealth Games.
However, returning to play in Welsh colours clearly has the desired effect.
“I was flat as a pancake for about a week and more after the Games,” said world-ranked 12 Tesni. “I was on a massive high to a massive low. It was brutal. Stupid.
“But playing for Wales in the Europeans make me pumped anyway, so that helped.”
There are 16 players left in the men’s and women’s events and the mix includes five British Open champions, six Egyptians, four Brits in the women’s quarters and one qualifier.
Raphael Kandra (Germany) has powered from the men’s qualifying rounds to the last eight and plays Marwan ElShorbagy (Egypt).
See live scores or watch on SquashTV/EuroSport.
Today, Quarter-finals with H2H
Noon, Women’s [1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) v [9] Alison Waters (Eng)
1pm, Women’s [3] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) v [7] Laura Massaro (Eng)
2pm, men’s [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy) v Paul Coll (Nzl)
3pm, men’s [3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) v [6] Simon Rosner (Ger)
5pm, women’s [6] Camille Serme (Fra) v [11] Tesni Evans (Wal)
6pm, women’s [2] Raneem El Welily (Egy) v [8] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng)
7pm, men’s [4] Marwan ElShorbagy (Egy) v [Q] Raphael Kandra (Ger)
8pm, men’s [2] Ali Farag (Egy) v Miguel Rodriguez (Col)
