Tournament Preview

August 31, 2026 2026, NEWS, PSA, TODAY

We’re just 24 hours away from the return of the London Squash Classic 2026, with the Gold-level event welcoming 48 of the world’s best players at the world-renowned Alexandra Palace in London.

The event will once again be staged at the famous Alexandra Palace, with squash adding to the venue’s long list of incredible sporting events. All matches from round two onwards will take place at ‘Ally Pally’, whilst first-round matches will all take place at Coolhurst LT & SC. The event will run from 1-6 September with all matches live on SQUASHTV.

The women’s draw features an extremely strong field, with four of the world’s top six making up the top four seedings, including current World No.1 Hania El Hammamy and World No.2 Amina Orfi.

The Egyptian pair built a blockbuster rivalry last year, delivering several high-quality battles on the biggest stages, including the longest women’s 3-1 match ever at the British Open, which lasted 110 minutes. Current World Champion Orfi will hope that a quick start to the season, including a title win in London, can help her supplant El Hammamy at the top of the rankings and become the youngest ever women’s World No.1.

2024 London Classic champion Sivasangari Subramaniam and Japanese No.1 Satomi Watanabe are the third and fourth seeds for the event. Sivasangari is in the bottom half with Orfi, whilst Watanabe is seeded to face El Hammamy in the top-half semi-final. Orfi will be out for revenge if she is to face Sivasangari in the bottom-half semi-final after the Malaysian ended Orfi’s 11-match win streak at the season-ending PSA Squash Tour Finals.

Elsewhere in the women’s draw, home interest is led by British No.1 and World No.8 Georgina Kennedy, who arrives at the event on the back of a title win at the 2026 British Nationals. Kennedy grew up playing in Bexley, less than 20 miles away from the Alexandra Palace, and will want to make her home advantage count.

Her opponent in the British Nationals title decider, World No.12 Jasmine Hutton, will also pose a serious threat from outside the top eight seedings, with the Englishwoman starting the season at her highest-ever world ranking.

Meanwhile, in the men’s event, two-time champion Paul Coll is back to defend his London Classic title, leading a strong men’s field which features nine of the world’s top 20 ranked players. The Kiwi has a stellar record on UK soil, with a third of his 33 PSA Tour titles coming in the country – the most recent of which came in Birmingham at the British Open.

Situated in the bottom half of the draw is No.2 seed and World No.6 Victor Crouin. The French No.1 has never competed at the London Squash Classic before, with his last competitive visit to London coming at the 2023 Canary Wharf Classic. Crouin will be fully fit and firing heading into the London Squash Classic after capturing his fourth European Individual Championships title in Budapest earlier this month.

England No.1 Marwan ElShorbagy is seeded to be a semi-final opponent for Crouin, but will first have to come through a potential draw which includes an opening match against either Declan James or Karim El Hammamy.

Following the unfortunate withdrawal of World No.10 Jonah Bryant due to a shoulder injury, Egypt’s Aly Abou Eleinen has assumed the No.4 seeding spot and can be found in the same half of the draw as Coll. The 26-year-old will be on the hunt for his first Gold-level title, hoping to go one better than his runner-up finish to Mohamad Zakaria at the Gold-level Karachi Open in January.

The top eight seedings are rounded out by Egyptian duo Youssef Soliman and Mohamed Abouelghar, Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas and former England’s Mohamed ElShorbagy.