Watts and Beinhard gatecrash Monaco quarters – PSA Day Two roundup
New Zealand’s Kaitlyn Watts and Germany’s Saskia Beinhard scored a pair of seeding upsets to reach the quarter-finals of the Copper-level Monte Carlo Classic 2025, defeating fifth seed Emila Soini and sixth seed Jessica van der Walt at Monaco Squash Club.
World #98 Watts advanced to her maiden World Events quarter-final after clinching a thrilling five-game battle with Soini. The New Zealander held her composure after Soini fought back from 2-1 down to force a deciding game, with the 24-year-old claiming two crucial points at 9-9 in the fifth to move through to a well-deserved 8-11, 11-4, 11-1, 7-11, 11-9 victory.
“I wanted to win, go out there and take it to her for sure,” Watts said after the match. “I knew if I played well that I could win, but it was a question of staying patient and believing I could win the match. But it was really down to the wire!
“It was very up and down, I just told myself, hang in there, hang in every point. I was trying to get my length better than yesterday. I was moving well yesterday, I thought, but I wasn’t hitting my targets as well, so today, I did that better.
“I wanted to stay in front of her, and I was on the volley a lot of the time, and that gave me a lot of opportunities and that won me the match at the end.”
Unseeded Beinhard delivered a commanding performance to down Australia’s Jessica van der Walt in straight games.
The opening game of their 30-minute clash ultimately proved decisive in the outcome of the match, with World #80 Beinhard requiring four game balls on her way to a 14-12 tie-break win. From there, the 26-year-old only moved from strength to strength, wrapping up the subsequent two games to the loss of just seven points.
After the match, Beinhard said: “The first game was more mental than physical. I was maybe a little bit hungrier in the first game because I knew it was going to be very crucial, and I definitely wanted to win the first game.
“In the third, I had the big push of being 2-0 up and I took advantage, trying to stay aggressive, but yet cool. I used my fitness, I felt quite good physically, and I feel that my fitness was my biggest weapon today, definitely in the crucial moments.
“I knew that if I was not aggressive enough and didn’t use my shots, my fitness wouldn’t help me in the end, but if I could do both, I thought that I could probably push through.
“I’m playing Zeina in the next round, who just had a very hard five-setter, so I will definitely watch it online.”
As Beinhard mentioned, second seed Zeina Mickawy was given a major scare by unseeded Australian Madison Lyon in her second-round match. The Egyptian World #27 was forced to battle back from two games down – and 10-3 down in the fourth – to secure her quarter-final spot, eventually coming through the 41-minute match by a 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-4 scoreline.
Elsewhere French duo Melissa Alves and Lauren Baltayan set up a quarter-final clash after the pair claimed three-game victories over Ireland’s Breanne Flynn and Kara Lincou.
The other three players to advance to the quarter-finals were English trio Torrie Malik, Alicia Mead and Millie Tomlinson. Third seed Malik defeated Katerina Tycova in three games, while fourth seed Mead and seventh seed Tomlinson overcame Enora Villard and Asia Harris in four games, respectively.
