Inverness squash duo Alasdair Prott and Martin Ross to play back-to-back Scottish PSA events in December at the Grange Open and Lockerbie Challenger
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After a difficult year, the PSA tour is heating up with two tournaments in quick succession; the Commercial Water Solutions Grange Open, a men and women’s tournament which kicks off at the Grange Club in Edinburgh between December 1-5, followed by the Lockerbie Challenger which take place at the Lockerbie Squash & Racketball Club between December 8-12.
The Scottish entrants for the Grange Open include Alasdair Prott (Inverness), John Meehan (Paisley), Martin Ross (Inverness) and the four wildcards are; Chris Leiper (Aberdeen), James Singh (Glasgow), Andrew Glen (Glasgow) and Fraser Steven (Thurso). For the Lockerbie Challenger, Alasdair Prott and Chris Leiper step up again, with wildcard entrants consisting of John Meehan, Martin Ross and Andrew Glen.
Nine-time Junior Champion Alasdair Prott, aged 20 from Inverness, faces Pablo Quintana Estevez from Spain in the first round at the Grange Open on December 1, and fellow Scot John Meehan in the opening round of the Lockerbie Challenger on December 8.
Alasdair is currently ranked 206 on the PSA Tour, up from 357 after a busy year competing at 10 PSA tour events. He narrowly missed out on Scotland selection for the World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur, after being beaten 3–2 by Fergus Richards at the quarter final of the David Lloyd Men’s Open in November.
Alasdair said: “It was disappointing to lose to Fergus at the WTC Scottish selection event, but my rankings show I’ve had a decent year and I’m looking forward to getting back to winning ways at the Grange Open and Lockerbie Challenger.
"It’s always great to compete back in Scotland. It was awesome playing in my hometown at the Springfield Scottish Squash Open in Inverness in September, and these two events will have a similar feel.”
John Meehan, aged 19 from Bridge of Weir, is drawn against Seif Shenawy from Egypt in round one of the Grange Open and faces Alasdair Prott in the opening round at Lockerbie, where he is one of three wildcard entrants. John is ranked 290 on the PSA tour, up from 672 at the start of the year. He made the quarter finals of Holmes Naden Prestbury Open in October, beaten 3–0 by Curtis Malik from England, was runner-up at Lexden RFC Open in August and a semi-finalist at the Charing Cross Classic in June.
Martin Ross, aged 26 from Inverness, meets Sam Todd from England in the opening round of the Grange Open and enters the Lockerbie Challenger as a wildcard, facing England’s Hasnaat Farooqi in round one. Martin has had a successful 2021 so far, with two quarter final spots at the NM Academy Open and a Scottish Circuit Event. He has jumped from 634 to 311 in rankings this year.
Martin said: “It's always special to have PSA tournaments in Scotland, so I'm really looking forward to the Grange Open and Lockerbie Challenger.
"I've never played either of my first-round opponents before. I think it’s always good to play someone new. Sam has won a couple of events recently, is the number one seed for Grange and is shooting up the rankings so that will be a tough one.
"Hasnaat has been on the tour longer than me so is more experienced at this level, but hopefully I can get stuck into both matches and cause an upset.”
