Irish Open 2025

Top Seeds Murphy and Lobban win Irish Open 2025

Greg Lobban and Tesni Murphy have won the Cannon Kirk GillenMarkets Irish Open 2025 titles, beating Melvil Scianimanico and Georgia Adderley on finals day in Dublin.

Both Murphy and Lobban came into the event with targets on their backs as the top seeds in the respective draws, but both put in impressive displays throughout the week to reach the final day.

Murphy had only dropped a single game en route to this final, that coming in her round-two win over home favourite Hannah Craig, and she made the perfect start against No.2 seed Adderley here, winning nine points on the bounce to start the match.

After closing out the game 11-3, the Welsh No.1 continued to dominate proceedings, playing accurate squash throughout game two, which she took 11-5 in just over 11 minutes.

Adderley – who had also only dropped a single game this week, albeit having had a walkover in the quarter-finals – began to find her feet in game three, playing a more attacking brand of squash to get herself back into the contest, sending the match to a fourth with an 11-7 success.

But a fourth would prove to be as far as the match would go, as Murphy stormed out to a 5-1 lead and pulled clear of her opponent, hitting a perfectly-weighted cross-court backhand to end proceedings on match ball at 10-5, securing her a third PSA Squash Tour title.

“I’ve played 14 seasons on Tour and this season I’ve won two titles, and that’s two out of the three in my whole career, so it’s been really good,” Murphy said after her win.

“It’s nice to get more matches behind me. It’s a great event, it feels amazing and I’m really happy with my squash this week.

“I think Georgia was a bit unsettled at the start but I came out really well, I found my targets really well and was playing to my game plan. I was really impressed with how Georgia came out in the third game, started attacking me a little bit more and put me under pressure, and I was finding myself getting a bit edgy.

“So to come out in the fourth game, regroup, and play some squash again, I couldn’t be happier.”

Murphy also spoke about what it meant to have her husband, Ben, with her and supporting her this week.

“It’s the best, it’s so much more relaxing,” she said.

“He gets he routine, so it’s been amazing to have him here. And it’s nice, I’ll have the evening to actually go and celebrate and not be a million miles away from home, so it makes it all more special.”

Murphy may have denied a Scottish victory in the women’s event, but there would be Scottish success in the men’s final that followed, as Lobban claimed his second Irish Open title with a straight-games win over the unseeded Scianimanico.

The 20-year-old Frenchman had been the surprise package of this week’s event, winning three five-game thrillers in a row to reach this stage, including a stunning comeback victory over defending champion Jonah Bryant in round two.

Lobban, though, came into this event in good form having won the Scottish National Championships last week, and was hoping to repeat his achievement from this tournament three years ago when he took home the title.

It didn’t take him long to open up a one-game lead, either, losing only four points in the first game, before winning the second 11-9.

Scianimanico was in a familiar situation at 2-0 down, having overturned that deficit twice already this week, and he raced out of the blocks in game three, winning the first four points to set the tone for what the crowd may have hoped would be another epic comeback.

But Lobban had other ideas, reeling off six points on the bounce to get his nose back in front, but he was unable to put any real daylight between himself and his opponent, finding himself in a tiebreak after losing two match balls from 10-8 up.

Tensions were understandably high with the trophy on the line, and referee Tomas Forter was a busy man in the closing stages, as both players fought for every point.

And it would be a refereeing decision that would ultimately end the match, too, as Forter awarded Lobban a stroke on his third match ball, with Scianimanico unable to clear a forehand drop in the front, right-hand corner.

“It’s a new court since I played here three years ago, but I love it here and it’s been good to me, so I’m happy to win another one here,” Lobban said after collecting his trophy.

“I felt really food. We’ve been on the road for about seven or eight weeks now with tournaments every weekend.

“I played the World Championships in Chicago and then came straight to Scottish nationals, and I’m on a bit of a momentum run at the moment with a few titles, which has felt good because I had a bit of a disappointment in Chicago, so it’s great to back it up with two titles, and hopefully I can finish strongly at the British Open.”

Semis – Melvil confirms with a third 5 setter in a row

Melvil Scianimanico continued his sensational week with another five-game, comeback win on semi-finals, reaching the biggest final of his career in the process.

The 20-year-old Frenchman fought back from 2-0 down to upset defending champion Jonah Bryant in round two – saving a match ball along the way – before repeating the trick in the quarter-finals against Rui Soares. That set him up for a semi-final showdown with No.3 seed George Parker, who was looking to go one better than in this tournament last year, when he was beaten in the final four by Mohamad Zakaria.

Parker had beaten compatriot Simon Herbert in the last eight this time around and he made the better start here 24 hours later, racing into a 6-1 lead in game one, before holding off his opponent’s charge to close it out 11-9 on a stroke decision.

Unlike his previous two encounters, Scianimanico did win the second game to avoid falling 2-0 behind, doing so in style by winning seven points on the bounce to start the game, never letting Parker back within touching distance.

The two players continued to trade blows across the next two games, with a near-capacity crowd engrossed by the spectacle in front of them, with the speed of Scianimanico and explosive moments of Parker making for a high-octane affair.

It was Parker who won the third, 11-7, but the scores were reversed in game four, sending the match to a decider, by which point Scianimanico had a spring in his step.

Still, there was nothing to split the players through the first eight points, but Scianimanico took control from there, keeping the pace of play high as he reeled of one point after another on his way to six match balls at 10-4.

He had been in a similar position against Bryant earlier in the week, sitting 10-5 up on that occasion before losing the next four points, but there would be no repeat this time around, as he slammed a backhand winner cross-court on his first match ball, prompting a huge, emotional roar towards the back of the court.

Standing between the unseeded Frenchman and a maiden World events title is top seed Greg Lobban, who came through a tough test with fellow Scot, Rory Stewart.

Lobban had beaten Stewart 3-1 in the Scottish National Championships final just a couple of days before this tournament began, and he repeated that feat here in Dublin.

It was a match that easily could have gone either way, though, with Lobban coming out on the right side of a crucial third-game tiebreak, 17-15, an outcome that perhaps took the wind out of Stewart’s sails and allowed Lobban to run away with victory in the fourth.

There remains the possibility of a Scottish double, too, with Lobban being joined on finals day by Georgia Adderley, who joined him in winning the Scottish National Championships title last week.

The No.2 seed was taking on England’s Millie Tomlinson, who had already knocked out the No.3 and No.7 seeds this week, but was unable to add another scalp to her resume, going down 3-0 in 36 minutes.

Adderley will now face top seed Tesni Murphy for the women’s crown, after she saw off the threat of the dangerous Madeleine Hylland, ending the unseeded Norwegian’s run with a 3-0 win.

Round Two – Melvil surprises!!

Melvil Scianimanico underlined his credentials as one of Europe’s most talented young players, staging a stunning fightback to beat No.2 seed and defending champion Jonah Bryant on day two of the Cannon Kirk GillenMarkets Irish Open 2025, a day which saw seven seeds go out in total.

Bryant, 19, and Scianimanco, 20, are two of the most exciting prospects in the men’s game, with Bryant having climbed inside the world’s top 30 this season and Scianimanico having come through qualifying to reach the recent PSA World Championships, where he upset Iker Pajares in round one.

They had never met before on the PSA Tour, but they did play out an epic five-game encounter in last year’s ESF European U19 Individual Championships final, with Bryant saving a match ball on his way to a thrilling comeback win.

This time, though, it was Scianimanco who saved a match ball on his way to a sensational victory, overturning a 2-0 deficit to force a decider by winning a fourth-game tiebreak 12-10, after being 10-9 down.

The pace of play remained extraordinarily high throughout game five, with both players showing remarkable athleticism and a hard-hitting style throughout, but it was the Frenchman who took control, bringing up five match balls at 10-5.

Bryant was never going to throw in the towel, though, and reeled off four points on the bounce to move back to 10-9 and set up a nerve-jangling finale, but saving a fifth would ultimately prove to be a step too far, as a backhand into the tin handed Scianimanico the win, prompting a huge celebration from the young Frenchman.

Several hours earlier, there had been an equally dramatic five-game tussle between Torrie Malik and Hana Ismail, who went toe-to-toe for almost an hour in the day’s first match on Court 1.

At 2-1 up and 6-3 up in the fourth, it looked as though Malik was heading into the last eight, only for Ismail to reel off eight of the next 10 points to send the match to a decider. The Egyptian then followed that up by winning the first five points of game five, but Malik remained calm, winning five points in a row herself to get back level at 6-6.

From there, the two players traded points all the way into a tiebreak, with Malik saving a match ball at 10-9 down with an inch-perfect forehand drop, a shot that would have ended proceedings had it been mere millimetres lower.

The No.4 seed then saved another match ball at 11-10 down before clinching victory, 13-11, with a sharp backhand volley that Ismail could not return.

Elsewhere in round two, third seed Grace Gear and seventh seed Saran Nghiem were both beaten, losing to Madeleine Hylland and Millie Tomlinson respectively, while former World No.3 Joelle King was forced to retire through injury at 2-0 up on Xin Ying Yee.

There were also wins over seeded players for Charlie Lee and Tom Walsh – beating Yannick Wilhelmi and Patrick Rooney – but home interest was ended, as Hannah Craig went down 3-1 to top seed Tesni Murphy, while wildcard Conor Moran lost out to Rui Soares.

Round One

Wildcard Conor Moran recorded the biggest win of his PSA Tour career so far, upsetting Jeremias Azana on home soil to reach round two. The 24-year-old had never played in a World-level event before, and had not played a PSA Tour match of any kind for more than a year. He did, however, come into this event as the Irish national champion, having upset his country’s No.1, Sam Buckley, in an epic, 103-minute final in February.

That match took place on Court 1 at Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, and Moran was back on the very same court for today’s encounter with Azana, a player ranked almost 150 places above him in the world. If there was any doubt about whether Moran would be overawed, either by his ranking deficit or the occasion, that was quickly squashed as he raced into a 9-5 lead in game one, closing it out 11-6 on a crisp forehand volley winner down the line.

He then held his nerve to take game two 11-9, and made the perfect start to game three, winning the first three points to settled any nerves that may have been lingering. 3-0 soon became 9-3 and a backhand drop into the tin from Azana handed the Irishman seven match balls.

He only needed one, though, reaching out to hit a deft forehand volley drop down the line, ending proceedings and earning himself a first World event win on the PSA Squash Tour.

That result followed a comfortable win for Hannah Craig against fellow Irishwoman Breanne Flynn, but there will be no place in round two for Buckley, despite a valiant effort in an eventful late-night battle with England’s Tom Walsh.

The Irish men’s No.1 had stunned Marwan Elshorbagy at the recent European Team Championships, and was hoping to take out another English player here in the form of Walsh, a close friend and training partner of Azana. Playing on the unique green court, Buckley made the perfect start by winning game one 11-6, only to be bageled in the second.

Walsh, who had his Dad watching on in the crowd, then took game three 11-5 but was 6-4 down in the fourth when play was switched to Court 2, with the referee deeming Court 1 unsafe to play due to the amount of sweat falling from both players onto the floor.

After warming up a new ball, Buckley closed out the game 11-7, drawing huge cheers from the crowd, who had packed onto the balcony and around the glass door below.

Ultimately, though, his comeback charge would fall short, as Walsh kept his composure well, establishing an early lead in game five and never letting Buckley back into the contest, firing a backhand volley winner into the nick on match ball, letting out a huge roar of emotion.

There were also five-game thrillers in the women’s draw, as Madeleine Hylland and Lowri Roberts secured their paths through to round two.

Roberts got the better of England’s Asia Harris, while Norway’s Hylland secured a dramatic victory over Kiera Marshall, winning the deciding fifth game 11-9 after 69 minutes of high-tension squash.

Hylland’s reward is a matchup with No.3 seed Grace Gear, while Irish duo Craig and Moran will take on women’s top seed Tesni Murphy and Portugal’s Rui Soares respectively.

All action from Court One will be shown live on the SQUASHTV YouTube Live Streaming Channel.