Gaultier and Ashour Set to Headline $70K September San Francisco NetSuite Open
by Blake Rhodes

SAN FRANCISCO, August 7, 2014 — Two of the world’s  top four ranked squash players – current U.S. Open champion and No. 1 Gregory Gaultier and No. 4 Ramy Ashour – headline the field for the 2014 NetSuite Open Squash Championships (NSO), Event Engine, Inc. announced today. One of only four elite squash championships in the U.S., the NetSuite Open returns for its third year to San Francisco’s South Lawn of Justin Herman Plaza September 24-30.

“Squash fans remember the great five-game NetSuite Open championship match between Gregory and Ramy last year, so I’m thrilled that they’re coming back to compete for the NetSuite Open title once again in San Francisco this season,” said John Nimick, a U.S. Squash Hall of Famer and President of Event Engine, Inc., the tournament producer. “A world class city is worthy of world class field, and this year’s Open certainly has that.”

In addition to Gaultier and Ashour, two other top 10 ranked players will participate in this year’s NSO. Egypt’s Amr Shabana, ranked No. 5, and England’s Peter Barker, ranked No. 8, are seeds three and four, respectively, in the field for the Professional Squash Association International 70 tournament that boasts 11 of the top 25 players on the current Dunlop PSA World Rankings. The tournament’s 28-player field represents nine countries and contains a collective six world championships (Ashour – two and Shabana – four).

Two-time World Champion Ashour looks to defend his 2013 NSO title, when he defeated France’s Gaultier 11-4, 7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-2 to register his ninth straight tournament victory of that season and extended his unbeaten tour run to 45 matches. The 5-11, 176-pound Egyptian owns a 282-52 PSA tour mark (.844) and is a 32-time PSA tournament champion.

France’s Gaultier, the world’s top ranked player and 2012 NSO champion, is coming off winning his second Allam British Open – squash’s most historic tournament – in May. The seven-time French National Title winner owns a 379-117 lifetime record (.764) on the PSA Tour during his distinguished 15-year career.

Julian Illingworth, seven-time USA national Champion and the highest ranked American player in the world for the past eight years, receives the main draw Wild Card spot.

The complete entries with seedings for the NetSuite Open Squash Championships follow:

Seed     World Rank, Player, Country

13.           No. 1 Gregory Gaultier (France)

14.           No. 4 Ramy Ashour (Egypt)

15.           No. 5 Amr Shabana (Egypt)

16.           No. 8 Peter Barker (England)

17.           No. 14 Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Colombia)

18.           No. 15 Laurens Jan Anjema (Netherlands)

19.           No. 19 Mathieu Castagnet (France)

20.           No. 20 Cameron Pilley (Australia)

21.           No. 22 Adrian Grant (England)

22.           No. 23 Chris Simpson (England)

23.           No. 24 Alister Walker (Botswana)

24.           No. 58 Julian Illingworth (USA)

The early rounds, comprising two rounds of Qualifying and six matches in the First Round (final 16) of the Main Draw will be played at Stanford University, the Bay Club San Francisco, Olympic Club and University Club. Two first round matches, the Quarterfinals, Semi-Finals and Championship will be played at Justin Herman Plaza.

Some 400 reserved seats are available for the NetSuite Open, ranging in price from $30 to $250. For tickets, draws, schedule and more information, please visit www.netsuiteopensquash.com. Follow the NetSuite Open on Facebook and Twitter.

About NetSuite
Today, more than 16,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of enterprise-class cloud financials/ERP suites for divisions of large enterprises and mid-sized organizations seeking to upgrade their antiquated client/server ERP systems. NetSuite excels at streamlining business operations as demonstrated in a recent Gartner study naming NetSuite as the fastest growing financial management software vendor on a global basis. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud ERP/financials suites to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud is accelerating. Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates.

About Event Engine
Event Engine, Inc. is a visionary event and entertainment marketing company specializing in the creation of unique athletic, musical, corporate and philanthropic events in extraordinary venues.  Founded in 2000 by US Squash Hall of Fame member John Nimick, Event Engine has grown from the management of a single, but unique, annual professional squash championship in Grand Central Terminal to a portfolio of successful events in some of the best known locations in North America and with some of the best-known entertainment celebrities in the world.  The Event Engine mission is to provide an unparalleled, highly valuable, highest quality result for clients, customer and corporate partners.  Event Engine is part of the Welldone Group, a global sports and entertainment agency based in Frankfurt, Germany.






 

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