Men’s $15k PSA Challenger, 29 Jul – 02 Aug, Spain
Spanish No.1 Iker Pajares completed a dominant week on the Mediterranean coast, winning the PSA Valencia 2025 without dropping a game.
The World No.32 entered the event as the No.1 seed and overwhelming favorite, a status that was only enhanced when the No.2 and No.3 seeds went out early, with second seed Leandro Romiglio going down 3-1 to France’s Joshua Phinera in the quarter-finals, after third seed Yassin Elshafei had been beaten in round two.
Elshafei’s defeat came at the hands of former world junior champion Hamza Khan, who proceeded to go all the way to the final, beating seventh seed Brice Nicolas and then Phinera to get there.
The 19-year-old Pakistani player has struggled somewhat to find his feet on the PSA Tour since his history-making triumph in Melbourne two years ago, but this run to the final showcased the burgeoning talent that he undoubtedly has, following on from his maiden title in a Challenger 6 event a few weeks ago.
Such was his impressive form in reaching Saturday’s final that he would have gone into the matchup with Pajares full of confidence, but he was ultimately outplayed by the more experienced Spaniard, who was targeting a 12th PSA title.
After taking game one 11-8, Pajares never looked in too much trouble throughout games two and three, dropping only nine points in total to get his hands on the silverware, securing his first PSA crown on home soil in Spain since 2017.
