And there you have it, that’s a wrap for the PSA Smyths Toys Hinckley Challenger tournament 2025! From Wednesday last week we opened our doors to the wider squash world, running mens and ladies $3,000 prize tournaments for up-and-coming squash talents from across the globe. There was even space for our local wild-card entrants to step onto the court and compete in this knockout format for a shot at glory.

Round 1 - Wednesday 21st May

Club member and team regular Georgia Mutch kicked-off proceedings against Francesca Whyte (ENG), where after overcoming some early big-match nerves she settled into her stride and achieved a comfortable 3-1 win.

And then at 6.00pm two more of our wild-card picks entered the fray, with Lucy Pallett of Cleaver Squash Club in Nuneaton playing some excellent squash to defeat Sophie Bolland (ENG) in a 3-1 encounter, and Rachel Calver playing out of David Lloyd Meridian in Leicester getting the best of a competitive match against Mariana Ventura Martins (POR), sealing her own 3-1 win.

Alas, our later wild-card picks didn’t fare quite so well, with Alistair Mutch (Georgia’s husband) going down 3-0 to eventual semi-finalist Samuel Gerrits (NED) and not helped by a racket malfunction in the warm-up. Ameerah Ismail, a bright prospect from Cleaver Squash Club, had early success but was then worn down 3-1 by Ayumi Watanabe (JPN). Finally, we had club coach James Bowden step onto court against Laouenan Loaëc (FRA), where after narrowly losing out on a monster first game, he roared back to win the second game before eventually succumbing 3-1 to the opponent of half his age, despite some astonishing double-dive points.

Round 2 - Thursday 21st May

With much much time afforded to rest up and recover, the second day of competition saw the top seeds enter the fray. These included second seed, and her nation’s number 1, Cristina Tartarone (ITA) who made a strong start in her opening game to beat Georgia Mutch 3-0. Lucy Pallett earned a game from third seed Polly Clark (ENG) before going on to lose 3-1, and Rachel Calver had a tough ask against women’s top seed Sophie Fadaely (AUS) and fought well but went down 3-0.

With local players now packing their bags, the crowd’s attention turned towards the ranked players and how they were faring in their opening encounters. The unseeded Denis Gilevskiy took out top seed Will Salter (ENG) 3-1 in the men’s draw, the dynamic Jakub Pytlowany (POL) had a marathon encounter coming from 2-0 down to beat Ryan Gwidzima (ZIM) 3-2 in 67 mins and last year’s finalist Jared Carter (ENG) had to draw on his experience to edge past Bailey Malik (ENG) with a 3-2 win in a whopping 79 mins. In the women’s draw both Jasmine Thirst (NZL) and Ellie Jones (SCO) came through their hard-fought games 3-2.

Quarter Finals - Friday 21st May

The field now whittling down, all matches now took place back-to-back on a single show court. The women’s matches all went to form except for a sizeable upset where the relentless hitting and chasing of fifth seed Ellie Breach (WAL) could not be contained by top seed Sophie Fadaely, who lost 3-0.

In the men’s draw, professional wildcard James Averill (ENG) ended a brilliant run putting up a tough fight against Sam Gerrits in a narrow 3-2 loss, men’s fifth seed Matteo Carrouget (FRA) knocked out a fatigued Jared Carter 3-0, and in a contender for ‘match of the tournament’ sixth seed Heston Malik (ENG) left everything out on court before losing out to the poise and shot selection of second seed Noah Meredith (ENG).

Semi-Finals - Saturday 22nd May

First on court, Cristina Tartarone won her semi-final against a spirited Polly Clark, dropping her first game of the tournament but ultimately proving too good on this occasion to win 3-1. Next up, Denis Gilevskiy continued his imperious march in controlling a difficult opponent in Sam Gerrits to a 3-0 win.

In the second session in a battle of the Ellie’s, Ellie Breach came through to beat another higher ranked opponent in Ellie Jones. Their closely competed semi-final ended 3-1 but each game could have gone either way. And then to round-off the day, Noah Meredith and Matteo Carrouget went to war in a five-set thriller, with Noah pulling clear at the last against his visibly tiring opponent.

Finals - Sunday 23rd May

And just like that, the day of the finals had arrived and another full-house gathered to grab the best positions in which to see the action.

In the women’s final Cristina Tartarone completed a commanding week, beating Ellie Breach 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 to get her hands on a further Challenger event crown in the past year following previous wins in the 2024/25 season PSA West Coast Cup and the Rotterdam Open. There was no shame in coming second to this standard of play from the Italian No. 1, and Ellie at only 19 years of age can take a lot from the way she played across the tournament, with further advances no doubt to come.

Taking the men’s title was Denis Gilevskiy, who pressed and controlled the exchanges against Noah Meredith in their early games, going 2-0 up in less than 20 minutes. Noah fought back hard in the third game, including defending three match points, but Denis was not to be denied and closed out his win, 11-7, 11-6, 14-12.

A word from our Chairman, Steve Gaisford

What an outstanding competition we’ve just witnessed! Thank you to everyone who’s come down to support the club and players over the last few days, as always, your support has been superb.

Of course we couldn’t put on this event without the backing from the clubs committee, and the enormous amount of work that goes into organising such an event. Hinckley Squash & Racketball Club is a volunteer run club, and this event has been entirely organized and run on volunteer power. Hundreds of hours work have gone into putting this tournament on, and I’d like to thank each an everyone of those individuals. First and foremost our event supremo, Tim Solley - fundraiser, chief operating officer, marketer, receptionist, court cleaner, and an impeccable dropper of a slightly larger ball. Thank you Tim, you’ve done it again, we’re all enormously proud of what you’ve delivered.

Tim was of course ably assisted by a whole host of equally fabulous people, and in no particular order:

Peter and his team of referees, exemplary officiating as always
Tim Parratt – communications and video/technical setup
 Alan Cantes – communications and photography 
Paul Goodwin, Ali Nicholas, Terrie Godden – Bar and Caterin
Martin Hosmer – Banners and popups 
Lindsey Campbell – Door runner, greeter and calligraphy
Amy O’Hara - Photography 
Simon Eves – Window Cleaner 
Paris Masters – Socials and set-up on Wednesday 
Aidan and Jono – providing first class physio 
Michaela, Martin and Gary - a joint effort with the trophies
Charlotte Knight - social media engagement

And finally a very big 'thank you' to our sponsors, without whom we couldn't have done any of this. FIrstly our lead sponsor Smyths Toys. Lewis Day who’s the Manager at the Tamworth store, has been hugely supportive for both this event and as the team shirts main sponsorship. Thank you Lewis and Smyths Toys.

Next up another familiar face... BHF Consulting is our FIrst Team Captain Ben Fenwick's business. He ia another member who’s supporting the club with the back of team shirt sponsorship as well. Thank you Ben.

Next we have Recognition Express and Chris Masters. As well as sponsoring the event Chris has kindly provided all the towels that went into the players welcome packs. Chris is another back of team shirt sponsor. Thanks Chris.

Next up two business who are not directly associated with the squash club but are very well known in Hinckley and we’re very grateful for their support...

Firstly Trafford Outlet and Adam Wragg. Trafford has been around since 1986. My daughter Mollie was very chuffed with her latest haul of GymShark kit from you the other day so both she and the club would like to say a massive thanks to Adam.

Finally Castles Estates... Gavin, Chris and Hannah.  These guys took over the running of the family business a couple of years ago. Gavin and I go back a long way, he and my eldest lad were best mates at school and its lovely to see their business thriving. Thanks guys.

Notes from our Organiser, club member Tim Solley

There was an air of anticipation ahead of this week for me, knowing how well received last year’s event was this could well have been the ‘difficult second album’. Growing the event to include a women’s draw was always part of the tournament’s development plan and I’m thrilled we were able to deliver on this commitment.

I am grateful to all of the players, especially our local wildcards and those who stepped in as reserve players following late withdrawals. There was some quite unbelievable squash across the 5 days and the crowds of people attending were really treated to something special each session.

It is with thanks to the committee, event sponsors, the PSA, England Squash referees, the players, crowds and my fellow volunteers that this happens. I can’t even begin to think how many hours have been given to the week in preparation and execution and it is incredibly rewarding to see all of our efforts supported and appreciated by everyone who attended across the week. I am grateful to each and every one of you for your help. The atmosphere was simply incredible from start to finish and I was overwhelmed to see so many supporters at the finals.

The last thanks go to my family, for allowing me to spend so much time thinking, planning and talking about the tournament. Taking calls and emails into the evenings sorting out the details and then effectively moving out to be at the club from early on the Wednesday to late on the Sunday!

I hope everyone who attended had a great time.

Next year? Let’s do it!